Climate Change and Forests: Making Adaptation a Reality “ Setting the Stage”

1. Climate Change and Forests:Making Adaptation a Reality“Setting the Stage” C-CIARN Forest Sector A Presentation to the Workshop November 18, 2003 by Greg McKinnon, Forest Sector Coordinator Canadian Climate Impacts and Adaptation Research Network

2. Presentation Outline • Climate Change • Responses to Climate Change: Mitigation or Adaptation • Impacts on Canada’s Forest Sector • Adapting to Climate Change • Defining Adaptation • Key Considerations • Workshop Objectives and Format • Moving the Agenda Forward

3. The History of Climate Change

4. Responses to Climate Change • Mitigation • Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing carbon sequestration • Impacts and Adaptation • Recognition that climate change is real • Effects need to be considered and planned for

5. Impacts on Canada’s Forest Sector • Ecological • Increases in natural disturbance including increased fires, pests and disease • Impacts to biodiversity including introduction of exotic species • Impacts on growth and yield, timber supply • Implications to forest practices (silviculture, harvesting, etc.) • Social and Economic • Impacts on competitiveness of forest industry, forest sector jobs, etc. • Impacts on forest-based/First Nations communities • Impacts on non-timber forest products/activities

6. Responding to Climate Change: The Case for Adaptation Source:Climate Change 2001: Synthesis Report.Stand-alone edition. Watson, R.T. and the Core Writing Team (Eds.). IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland. Figure SPM-5. p. 17.

7. Adaptation to Climate Change - refers to: “adjustments in the ecological, social and economic systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli and their effects or impacts”. Smit and Pilifosova. 2001

8. Key Considerations • Forest systems (e.g. forest management areas, protected areas, forest-based communities) have strong linkages to climate and climate change. • Effects of climate change on the forest and forest-based communities are numerous and far-reaching, with implications to economic, social, and environmental sustainability.

9. Key Considerations (cont’d) • Forests will adapt naturally to climate change - however these adaptations may not be consistent with the long term survival of the existing ecological, social or economic systems that depend on the forest. • There is a need for planned adaptations in the forest sector in order to maximize benefits and minimize adverse effects of climate change.

10. Key considerations (cont’d) • Climate simulation models provide forest managers with useful projections of future climate scenarios to support planning and management across a range of space and time scales. • Multi-stakeholder and public support for many adaptive solutions will be required, notably those that are controversial and/or run counter to current policy or practice.

11. Workshop Objectives • To demonstrate the practical application of vulnerability assessment / risk management concepts in the development and evaluation of climate change adaptation strategies in the forest sector. • To determine knowledge gaps and key impediments to implementing these climate change adaptation strategies.

12. Workshop Format Presentations • Review of Climate Change Science • Overview of Impacts on Forests and Forest Management • Introduction to Risk Management • Linkage between Vulnerability Assessment and Risk Assessment • Climate Scenarios Working Groups • Forest Management Unit • Forest-based Community • Protected Area Plenary Discussion and Wrap-up

13. Moving the Agenda Forward “The concept and practice of sustainable forest management may be fundamentally flawed to the degree that it does not incorporate the reality of climate change.” “Implementing adaptive solutions to climate change will require an increased emphasis on the human dimension of forest management, and will require multi-stakeholder and public support to be successful.”

14. Canadian Climate Impacts and Adaptation Research Network Forest Sector“Towards Sustainable Forest Management under a Changing Climate” www.forest.c-ciarn.ca