Wildlife and Climate Change Educator Resources

The document serves as a guide for educators to integrate climate change and wildlife conservation into their curricula. It introduces the concept of "climate-smart conservation" and provides a specific four-factor framework for assessing species vulnerability. The guide encourages students to conduct their own species assessments and provides a comprehensive list of climate science resources and citizen science projects to foster active participation in environmental monitoring.

• Climate change causes diverse global impacts on wildlife, including coral bleaching, extinction, changes in life cycle timing, increased pests and disease, and altitudinal or poleward range shifts.
• The rapid pace of warming, driven primarily by human-induced greenhouse gas emissions like carbon dioxide, is outstripping the ability of many species and human communities to adapt.
• WWF employs a "climate-smart conservation" approach that assesses species vulnerability based on four factors: sensitivity (ability to persist under change), adaptive capacity (ability to respond or move), exposure (amount of climatic variation encountered), and other threats (additional pressures like overfishing or habitat loss).
• WWF has already performed species assessments for specific wildlife, including Asian elephants, African elephants, mountain gorillas, snow leopards, and monarch butterflies.
• The guide provides a framework for students to conduct their own species assessments using a provided tool and offers the possibility of having thorough research published as a fact sheet.

APA

WWF International (n.d.). Wildlife and Climate Change Educator Resources. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/1721/Wildlife_and_Climate_Change_Education_Materials_Oct_13_2015.pdf

Chicago

WWF International. Wildlife and Climate Change Educator Resources. n.d. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/1721/Wildlife_and_Climate_Change_Education_Materials_Oct_13_2015.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=WWF International |title=Wildlife and Climate Change Educator Resources |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/1721/Wildlife_and_Climate_Change_Education_Materials_Oct_13_2015.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wwfinternationalndwildlife, author = {{WWF International}}, title = {{Wildlife and Climate Change Educator Resources}}, institution = {WWF International}, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/1721/Wildlife_and_Climate_Change_Education_Materials_Oct_13_2015.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }