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Doctor Hansen, Chief Scientist and Executive Director, has focused her research on the effects of Climate Change for twenty years. Her primary focus is the redesign of conservation strategies to incorporate responses to climate change. She has directed a variety of projects around the planet exploring this issue, from coral reefs to mountain glaciers, from tigers in mangrove forests to polar bears in the Bering Sea. Dr. Hansen was the Chief Climate Change Scientist for World Wildlife Fund leading their Impacts and Adaptations program from 2001 to 2008. In July 2008 she founded EcoAdapt.   Doctor Hansen served on the Nobel-awarded International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) for five years, and has been awarded a Switzer Environmental Fellowship (1995) and an EPA Bronze Medal (2002)

Problem

Earlier attempts to solve the problems caused by a changing climate have proved failures. Combating global climate change requires a new, holistic approach to conservation that considers the links between human and natural systems. We have no other choice if we aim to create a stable, sustainable future for our planet.

Innovation / New Solution

EcoAdapt is one of the first organizations working to build the brand-new field of adaptation through extensive researching, training of future professionals in adaptation, and supporting adaptation efforts worldwide. “There aren’t many out there working on adaptation. Most work thus far has been on mitigation. We provide the capacity for groups that need adaptation. We have been doing this for 10 years, worldwide. We make people think about adaptation in everything they do, and make them change what they are doing” –Lara Hansen, ED

Impact

EcoAdapt builds capacity. They have written a textbook for use on Climate Change adaptation. The climate change adaptation knowledge exchange (www.cakex.org), their newest product, is a non-prioritary resource to allow people to have a sense of what they need to do. Launched on June 15, it has case studies, a virtual library, and many other resources, including a directory of relevant people, an advice column for people, a listing of tools (ways to get data they need), and a community organization.

Expert Comments

• They exclusively focus on adaptation to climate change, which is a critical issue.
  
  
• They have smart people and good contacts. They are agile and not encumbered by large institutional bureaucracy.
  
  
• They are pioneering new approaches to climate adaptation for ecosystems.
  
  

From the Nonprofit

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