Exudation of gum out of a whistling thorn (Acacia drepanolobium) tree. As this is partly a stress reaction, gum production out of acacias might be enhanced by prolonged drought due to climate change in Sahelian Africa. However, this might lead to faster exhaustion and a shorter lifespan for the trees. (Photo BGF)
related income and employment. Climate change will have impacts on the productivity of NWFPs2 and there will be pressure on forest products from people looking for emergency supplies or alternative means of income. The latter is likely to occur in areas of high poverty, high dependence on NWFPS and extreme climatic events and other natural disturbances, such as pests, diseases and fires.
Climate change and forest management Climate change makes it difficult for forest managers to satisfy their objectives and their broader responsibilities to society. In response to these changes, managers must adjust their management objectives and practices. Forest managers need to reduce the vulnerability of their forest to climate-related damage, optimise benefits of changing climate, and take advantage of any policy incentives or financial support available for climate change adaptation and/or mitigation. Managers aiming to minimise damage or losses from climate change must deal with the uncertainties and variability of climate change, differences in the time scales of impacts, and the costs associated with changing management practices. Because of the uncertainty of how and how much climate will affect forests, it may be advisable for forest managers to prepare for a wider range of change and to alter forest protection and management measures on at least a portion of the landscape. Increasingly, forest managers need to be aware of the current and potential impacts of climate change. Some effects are direct, such as climate-driven changes in hydrological processes and in plant physiology, growth, and 2
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population dynamics. Others are indirect, caused by modified disturbance regimes (e.g. fires, pests, and storms). Yet other impacts are secondary, which include those driven by economic and social changes brought about by responses to climate change, including population movements and changes in markets (e.g. increased demand for biofuels to replace fossil fuels). As climatic conditions move beyond historical ranges, adaptation and mitigation will require adjustment of management objectives, approaches, and monitoring systems. A factor in managers’ favour is that sustainable forest management (SFM) practices are consistent with climate change adaptation and mitigation. While the practices remain the same, forest managers will need to factor climate change into their planning and adjust their management practices accordingly, such as by shifting to other species or varieties or to other products. Managers also need to put more emphasis on risk management and will need to weigh the costs of changes in forest management against the likely benefits, keeping in mind that the costs of climate change adaptation are likely to increase the longer one waits.
Forest management options for climate change mitigation and adaptation There are three possible approaches for adapting forests to climate change: No intervention, Reactive adaptation/mitigation and Planned adaptation/mitigation. Unfortunately, most current management belongs to the first or at best the second category. No intervention means “business as usual”; based on the premise that the forest will adapt more or less, as it has in the past. Reactive
adaptation/mitigation is action taken after the fact. This means, “crossing the bridge when we come to it”. Examples include salvage cutting, post-disturbance changes in industrial processes to convert salvaged timber, updated harvest scheduling, recalculated allowable cuts and development of socio-economic support programmes for affected localities. Planned adaptation and/or mitigation, on the other hand, involves redefining forestry goals and practices in advance, in view of climate changerelated risks and uncertainties. It involves deliberate, anticipatory interventions at different levels and across sectors. At the community level, options may include diversification of forest-based and non-forest based income sources, better local governance of forest resources and capacity building for monitoring and coping with possible calamities. Within the industrial forest sector, planned adaptation/mitigation may involve the inclusion of biomass-based energy as a product or the promotion of wood products for their low carbon footprint. At the national and global levels, opt ons may include a timely monitoring and reporting system and the development of tools for vulnerability assessments and adaptation planning. Forest managers might also be increasingly required to weigh global implications of local interventions, as forests are part of global bio-geophysical and bio-geochemical cycles and are increasingly subject to international agreements or to certification schemes. Planned adaptation/mitigation also includes exploring new opportunities that arise from climate change. This might for example include planting provenances or species that will grow faster under projected climatic conditions or reaping the benefits of new products and services such as carbon sequestration and new forms of biomass based energy. Planned adaptation/
Miti July - September 2013