Management for adaptation

This chapter develops a framework to explore examples of adaptation options that could be used to ensure that the ecosystem services provided by forests are maintained under future climates. The services are divided into broad areas within which managers can identify specific management goals for individual forests or landscapes. Adaptation options exist for the major forest regions of the world but the scientific basis for these adaptation options and their potential effectiveness varies across regions. Because of the great variation in local conditions, no recommendations can be made that are applicable to an entire domain. The choice of management option will depend on the likely changes occurring in the forest, the management objectives of that forest, its past management history and a range of other factors. Local managers must have sufficient flexibility to choose the most appropriate suite of management options for their conditions. The current failure to implement fully the multi-faceted components of sustainable forest management is likely to limit the ability of forest management to adapt to climate change. Forest managers will need to plan at multiple spatial and temporal scales and will need to adopt adaptive collaborative management as their primary form of management. Careful monitoring and evaluation will be required, with a change in focus from outputs to outcomes.

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