The Greater Mekong is destined for major changes due to climate change, making it one of the most vulnerable places on Earth. Changes are already occurring and the worst is yet to come.

WWF’s major concern is to devise ways to make the Greater Mekong region more resilient to climate change: planning so that natural ecosystems can cope with the change.

Anticipating the storm

WWF is shifting from a focus on conserving ‘what was’ to anticipating and managing change in an increasingly climate constrained world. To do this, we are focusing on the following actions:
  • Demonstrating the value of ecosystem services, including how keeping those ecosystems healthy can make them withstand climate change better
  • Employing management principles that take into consideration the need to adapt to a changing climate
  • Enhancing capacity to use spatial planning tools, models, and scenario-based thinking in development and land-use planning
  • Working with governments to integrate climate change and conservation considerations into development plans
  • Implementing ecosystem-based adaptation strategies through the establishment of a flexible management framework, sound monitoring system and a set of resilience indicators
  • Linking buyers of certified products with producers (e.g. timber, non-timber forest products, and fisheries)
What does our work look like?

► WWF's Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) projects aim to put a price tag on the carbon stored in forests in order to better protect their biodiversity and ecosystem services - see how it works