Abstract:
Climate change presents potential risks to forests and challenges for forest
managers. Adaptation to climate change involves monitoring and anticipating change and
undertaking actions to avoid the negative consequences and take advantage of potential
benefits of those changes. Forest managers are accustomed to considering the long-term
implications of their decisions. However, many are now responding to much shorter term
economic or political imperatives. Climate change potentially increases the consequences of
many existing challenges associated with environmental, social or economic change. Some
current management measures may continue to be suitable in responding to increasing
pressures under climate change, while for other situations new measures will be required.
This special issue presents papers from Africa, Europe, and North America that provide
examples of the type of analysis being implemented to support forest management in a
changing climate. The implications in the context of uncertainty in climate projections and
ecosystem responses are discussed.
