Introduction to the symposium theme : climate change in fragmented landscapes: can we develop spatial adaptation strategies?

The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that by increasing the concentration of greenhouse gasses, man has a discernible influence on climate, and this is expected to be a long-term phenomenon affecting the environment in the forthcoming decades or even centuries. Since climate is a key driving force for ecological processes, climate change is likely to exert considerable impact on ecosystems. Since nature policy worldwide is often based upon policy plans which do not take climate change into account, it is questionable whether current biodiversity conservation goals can be achieved with the current efforts. There is therefore a need for a new, climate-proof, nature policy.