Climate change drives ecological novelty and new social challenges

This version of the article has been accepted for publication but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-026-02672-3

The document is a preprint of a journal comment published in Nature climate change on June 19th 2026 under the following citation:
Heger, T., Collier, M.J., Higgs, E. et al. Climate change drives ecological novelty and new social challenges. Nat. Clim. Chang. (2026).
https://doi.org/10.1038/41558-026-02672-3

Ecosystems are changing rapidly because of climate change, and this will have increasing social effects around the globe. We suggest that common social responses to rising novelty are often counterproductive, and we advocate for strategies that allow accepting and adapting to changes in nature.