Adaptation and mitigation options for forests and forest management in a changing climate

Climate change is now accepted as an important issue for forests and forest management around the world. Climate change will affect forests' ability to provide ecosystem goods and services on which human communities depend: biodiversity, carbon sequestration, regulation of water quality and quantity, timber and non-timber products, as well as spiritual and cultural values. Global responses are in the process of being implemented to (i) reduce the causes of climate change (mitigation) and (ii) to increase the ability of natural systems and human societies to cope with the impacts of climate change (adaptation). An international conference on “Adaptation of Forests and Forest Management to Changing Climate with Emphasis On Forest Health: A Review of Science, Policies and Practices”, held in Umeå, Sweden in August 2008, brought together over 300 researchers, managers and policy makers from around the globe. Selected papers from this conference addressing both adaptation and mitigation are compiled in the present volume and two companion publications: Forest Ecology and Management Special Issue, Volume 259, Issue 4, pp. 657–856 (5 February 2010): Adaptation of Forests and Forest Management to Changing Climate; and Unasylva Special Issue, No. 231/232, Volume 60, 2009/1-2: Adapting to Climate Change