Southwest Regional Climate Hub and California Subsidiary Hub Assessment of Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies

In 2015, the Southwest and California Climate Hubs published a report describing the potential vulnerability of crops, forests and animal agriculture to climate-driven environmental changes. The exposure of specific sectors of the agricultural and forestry industries varies across the region because the Southwest is climatically and topographically diverse. There is also variability in the sensitivity of different systems to the effects of climate change. Most significantly, there is potential within agricultural and forestry systems to adjust to climate-related effects either through inherent resilience or through conservative management practices. The purpose of this report is to describe regional vulnerabilities to climate change and adaptive actions that can be employed to maintain the productivity of working lands in the coming decades.