The Center for Conservation Biology PresentsThe Desert Climate
Resilience Initiative
For the Coachella Valley
Building a more resilient coachella valleyExplore the Prioritization, Adaptation, and Resilience for Climate Toolkit to identify local conservation needs
Project Overview
Started in 2022, the Desert Climate Resilience Initiative (DCRI) for Coachella Valley has been a project spearheaded by UC Riverside’s Center for Conservation Biology. Deserts are rich in biodiversity and have important economic, recreational, and cultural benefits. The Coachella Valley’s unique desert ecosystems, however, are changing in ways that require a need for careful planning for climate resilience.
Through the Prioritization, Adaptation, and Resilience for Climate (PARC) Toolkit and our work with the community, the DCRI has built capacity for research and collaboration in the Coachella Valley. Our work has focused on building scientific expertise and community engagement concerning carbon and vegetation conservation and protecting the integrity of ecosystems with a special focus on participating in pathways into scientific careers for underserved communities.
“The Desert Climate Resilience Initiative will be located here within the community, and both the science and the information we gather are meant to build a community that is resilient to climate change.”
—Dr. Lynn Sweet, Principal Investigator
Land Acknowledgement
We at UCR would like to respectfully acknowledge and recognize our responsibility to the original and current caretakers of this land, water, and air: the Cahuilla [ka-weeahh], Chemehuevi [cheh-meh-way-vee], Luiseño [loo-say-ngo], Mojave [mo-hah-vee], Serrano [se-ran-oh], and Tongva [tong-va] peoples and all their ancestors and descendants, past, present, and future. Speaking to Indigenous peoples from the Coachella Valley has been invaluable to this project as we seek to understand the relationship between climate and nature, as well as build climate resilience for the whole of the Coachella Valley community. The land in which we work is home to many Indigenous peoples from all over the world, including UCR faculty, students, and staff, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to live and work with these people and on these homelands.
This project is funded by the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy's Climate, Resilience and Community Access Grant Program, administered by the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy, a state agency within the California Natural Resources Agency.