
Adapting forest management to climate change in Europe : linking perceptions to adaptive responses
- Author
- Rita Sousa-Silva, Bruno Verbist, Ângela Lomba, Peter Valent, Monika Suškevičs, Olivier Picard, Marjanke A Hoogstra-Klein, Vasile-Cosmin Cosofret, Laura Bouriaud, Quentin Ponette, Kris Verheyen (UGent) and Bart Muys
- Organization
- Abstract
- Climate change will impact forests and may impair their ability to provide essential ecosystem services in the decades to come. Addressing this challenge requires adjustments to forest management strategies as of now, but it is still unclear to what extent this is already in progress. Using data from surveys of 1131 forest owners and managers from seven European countries, we assessed how they perceive their role in adapting forest management to climate change. The surveys focused on foresters' observations of climate change impacts, the degree to which climate change is a part of their operational and strategic management, and their ability to address related risks and opportunities. We found evidence of a strong continent-wide climate change awareness among respondents, with 73% foresters convinced that climate change will impact their forest. However, only about one-third (36%) reported having modified their management practices, though figures vary widely between countries, from 14% in Portugal to 57% in Slovakia. Among the constraints limiting their actions, lack of knowledge and information emerged as a major barrier towards forest adaptation. Differences between countries could be linked to their socio-economic and political contexts. Our results further suggest that severely damaging events, such as windstorms, fires and pest outbreaks, present relevant opportunities to engage people with climate change and encourage action. Further work needs to be done in strengthening the relationship between scientific research and practice, working out context dependent measures to foster adaptation to changing climate and disturbance regimes in forest management.
- Keywords
- Adaptive capacity, Awareness, Climate change, Europe, Forest management, Regional differences, CHANGE IMPACTS, ADAPTATION, FUTURE, STRATEGIES, CAPACITY, SCIENCE, NEED
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8587840
- MLA
- Sousa-Silva, Rita, et al. “Adapting Forest Management to Climate Change in Europe : Linking Perceptions to Adaptive Responses.” FOREST POLICY AND ECONOMICS, vol. 90, 2018, pp. 22–30, doi:10.1016/j.forpol.2018.01.004.
- APA
- Sousa-Silva, R., Verbist, B., Lomba, Â., Valent, P., Suškevičs, M., Picard, O., … Muys, B. (2018). Adapting forest management to climate change in Europe : linking perceptions to adaptive responses. FOREST POLICY AND ECONOMICS, 90, 22–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2018.01.004
- Chicago author-date
- Sousa-Silva, Rita, Bruno Verbist, Ângela Lomba, Peter Valent, Monika Suškevičs, Olivier Picard, Marjanke A Hoogstra-Klein, et al. 2018. “Adapting Forest Management to Climate Change in Europe : Linking Perceptions to Adaptive Responses.” FOREST POLICY AND ECONOMICS 90: 22–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2018.01.004.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Sousa-Silva, Rita, Bruno Verbist, Ângela Lomba, Peter Valent, Monika Suškevičs, Olivier Picard, Marjanke A Hoogstra-Klein, Vasile-Cosmin Cosofret, Laura Bouriaud, Quentin Ponette, Kris Verheyen, and Bart Muys. 2018. “Adapting Forest Management to Climate Change in Europe : Linking Perceptions to Adaptive Responses.” FOREST POLICY AND ECONOMICS 90: 22–30. doi:10.1016/j.forpol.2018.01.004.
- Vancouver
- 1.Sousa-Silva R, Verbist B, Lomba Â, Valent P, Suškevičs M, Picard O, et al. Adapting forest management to climate change in Europe : linking perceptions to adaptive responses. FOREST POLICY AND ECONOMICS. 2018;90:22–30.
- IEEE
- [1]R. Sousa-Silva et al., “Adapting forest management to climate change in Europe : linking perceptions to adaptive responses,” FOREST POLICY AND ECONOMICS, vol. 90, pp. 22–30, 2018.
@article{8587840, abstract = {{Climate change will impact forests and may impair their ability to provide essential ecosystem services in the decades to come. Addressing this challenge requires adjustments to forest management strategies as of now, but it is still unclear to what extent this is already in progress. Using data from surveys of 1131 forest owners and managers from seven European countries, we assessed how they perceive their role in adapting forest management to climate change. The surveys focused on foresters' observations of climate change impacts, the degree to which climate change is a part of their operational and strategic management, and their ability to address related risks and opportunities. We found evidence of a strong continent-wide climate change awareness among respondents, with 73% foresters convinced that climate change will impact their forest. However, only about one-third (36%) reported having modified their management practices, though figures vary widely between countries, from 14% in Portugal to 57% in Slovakia. Among the constraints limiting their actions, lack of knowledge and information emerged as a major barrier towards forest adaptation. Differences between countries could be linked to their socio-economic and political contexts. Our results further suggest that severely damaging events, such as windstorms, fires and pest outbreaks, present relevant opportunities to engage people with climate change and encourage action. Further work needs to be done in strengthening the relationship between scientific research and practice, working out context dependent measures to foster adaptation to changing climate and disturbance regimes in forest management.}}, author = {{Sousa-Silva, Rita and Verbist, Bruno and Lomba, Ângela and Valent, Peter and Suškevičs, Monika and Picard, Olivier and Hoogstra-Klein, Marjanke A and Cosofret, Vasile-Cosmin and Bouriaud, Laura and Ponette, Quentin and Verheyen, Kris and Muys, Bart}}, issn = {{1389-9341}}, journal = {{FOREST POLICY AND ECONOMICS}}, keywords = {{Adaptive capacity,Awareness,Climate change,Europe,Forest management,Regional differences,CHANGE IMPACTS,ADAPTATION,FUTURE,STRATEGIES,CAPACITY,SCIENCE,NEED}}, language = {{eng}}, pages = {{22--30}}, title = {{Adapting forest management to climate change in Europe : linking perceptions to adaptive responses}}, url = {{http://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2018.01.004}}, volume = {{90}}, year = {{2018}}, }
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