Conserving Climate-Change Refugia: Insights From Research and Practice
Citation
Morelli, T. L., Mozelewski, T., Cavalieri, C. N., Caven, A. J., Dreiss, L. M., Hovel, R. A., … Lawler, J. J., … & Stralberg, D. (2025). Conserving climate‐change refugia: Insights from research and practice. Conservation Science and Practice, e70160. doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70160
As climate change accelerates, safeguarding areas that can act as refuges for vulnerable plants and animals is crucial for preserving biodiversity. Over the past five years, significant strides have been made in identifying and mapping vital climate-change refuges. While research has grown, management actions have lagged. And much of the focus has been limited to terrestrial plants and vertebrates in Europe and North America—overlooking many species and regions.
This article explores the challenges of implementing climate-change refuges and highlights emerging efforts to turn research into action. It emphasizes the intertwined challenges that both people and nature face in adapting to a rapidly changing climate. Importantly, the authors call for a focus on equity—ensuring that historically marginalized communities, who are disproportionately impacted by climate change, are included in these vital conservation strategies.
Abstract
As the impacts of anthropogenic climate change increase, conservation of climate-change refugia has become a key strategy for effective environmental stewardship. Over the last 5 years, the field of climate-change refugia conservation has made exciting advances, shifting from concepts and theory to refugia mapping and implementation. However, few studies have advanced to action on the ground; while 84% of studies identified and mapped refugia, only 4% involved implementing management action. Moreover, taxonomic and geographic gaps remain, with most studies focused on terrestrial plants and vertebrates in Europe and North America. Here, we outline impediments to implementation following the steps of the Climate-Change Refugia Conservation Cycle. Based on a systematic literature review, we elucidate advances and obstacles with examples from a diversity of systems and sectors from across the world and highlight emerging work bridging the gap between research and implementation.