The Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, along with other sponsors, hosted the Massachusetts Ecosystem Climate Adaptation Network’s third annual conference on Tuesday, Oct. 29 at the Mount Ida campus of UMass Amherst.
The conference was designed to serve as a venue to shape conversation about ecosystem resilience, for participants to reflect on their own work, to boost morale and to network.
This year’s highlights included brainstorming on how to bring an ecosystems approach to urban climate adaptation, discussion on opportunities to engage with state adaptation initiatives and a round-robin consultation activity to share challenges and seek advice from peers. Conference Coordinator, Melissa Ocana, UMass Climate Adaption Educator, said, “The Mass ECAN Conference is unique because it creates a space for practitioners to build community and together advance climate adaptation with ecosystems in mind.”
Mass ECAN is a community of practice for those working at the intersection of climate adaption, ecosystem resilience and natural resources conservation in the Commonwealth. The community includes over 300 members from academia; non-profits; businesses and state; federal; regional and local agencies and boards.
