Abstract
The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group 2 AR6 report on Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability was released earlier this spring with alarming findings about the progression of climate impacts around the globe. It finds that an estimated 3.3 to 3.6 billion people and the ecosystem services on which they depend are highly vulnerable to climate change across the globe. Dr. Carolyn Enquist, Acting Director of the Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center (SW CASC) and Ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), will provide an overview of key findings from this report as they relate to the southwestern United States. She also will touch where the broader research and policy community are headed in the context of Adaptation, providing an update from the U.N. Climate Change Conference COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. From there, Carolyn will give a quick overview of the SW CASC and how the center is using recent findings and emergent directions to inform its actionable science agenda and funding opportunities in the next 3-5 years.
Bio
For over two decades, Dr. Carolyn Enquist has worked at the nexus of science and practice with positions at the National Wildlife Federation, the National Park Service, the Forest Service, The Nature Conservancy, The WIldlife Society, the USA National Phenology Network, and the USGS-led Climate Adaptation Science Center Network. She has largely focused on the natural resource management implications of climate change for biodiversity conservation, with an added focus on the development and translation of science that supports effective decision-making. She has led and contributed to numerous peer-reviewed articles and national reports focused on the biodiversity impacts of climate change, practical guidance for conducting vulnerability assessments, and the practice of climate adaptation planning and implementation. She currently serves as a Lead Author on the IPCC Working Group 2 AR6 report. As part of this work, she maintains a keen interest in understanding and supporting the human dimensions of climate adaptation.She received B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in biology from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.