A structured decision-making approach to climate change adaptation in the forest sector

2005 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan W Ohlson ◽  
Greg A McKinnon ◽  
Kelvin G Hirsch
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Physical Geography ◽  
Forest Sector ◽  
Management Planning ◽  
Structured Decision Making ◽  
Key Words Climate Change

Climate change presents a risk to the composition, health, and vitality of Canada's forests and forest sector. Effects may be either negative or positive, and will interact in complex ways over many spatial and temporal scales depending on such factors as physical geography, forest type, and forest management practices. Given the apparent vulnerability of forests and the forest sector to climate change, it is prudent that forest and forest-based community managers begin to develop adaptive strategies to minimize the risks and maximize the benefits of climate change. A flexible planning framework that incorporates key principles of structured decision-making and risk management is presented as a practical way to integrate climate change adaptation into forest management planning. Key words: climate change, forest, impacts, adaptation, vulnerability, risk management, planning

A framework for assessing climate change vulnerability of the Canadian forest sector

2007 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 358-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Johnston ◽  
Tim Williamson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Adaptive Capacity ◽  
Vulnerability Assessment ◽  
National Forest ◽  
Forest Sector ◽  
Climate Variability And Change ◽  
Exposure System ◽  
System Sensitivity ◽  
Key Words Climate Change

We present a framework for assessing the vulnerability of the Canadian forest sector to climate variability and change. The framework includes factors of exposure, system sensitivity and adaptive capacity, which are applied to the Canadian forest sector. We summarize sources of exposure and sensitivities of the Canadian forest sector and then address the adaptive capacity of forest management and forest-based communities. We suggest that the adaptive capacity of the forest sector is likely to be high, but needs to be rigorously tested. We conclude by advocating a national forest sector vulnerability assessment, and emphasize that this needs to be an inclusive, stakeholder-driven process. Key words: climate change, adaptation, vulnerability, forest sector, forest communities

Reply to the comment by Wellstead et al. on “Barriers to enhanced and integrated climate change adaptation and mitigation in Canadian forest management”

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (10) ◽  
pp. 1246-1250
Author(s):  
Tim B. Williamson ◽  
Harry W. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Process Outcomes ◽  
International Climate ◽  
Adaptation And Mitigation

In commenting on our review about barriers to climate change adaptation and mitigation (Williamson and Nelson 2017, Can. J. For Res. 47(12): 1567–1576, doi: 10.1139/cjfr-2017-0252 ), Wellstead et al. (2018, Can. J. For. Res. 48(10), doi: 10.1139/cjfr-2017-0465 ) argue that the “functionalist assumptions” underlying barriers analysis in general and our paper in particular are problematic. They also argue that barriers analysis — a method widely employed both in scholarly climate change adaptation research and in national and international climate change assessments — should be replaced by approaches that remain untested in the context of climate change adaptation research, particularly in forestry adaptation and mitigation research. We believe that neither the scholarly research on adaptation and mitigation barriers nor our review have characteristics of functionalism or imply functionalist assumptions. Moreover, we disagree that barriers analysis can be replaced by the methodologies that they propose because these latter approaches address different aspects and features of processes supporting movement toward comprehensive and integrated adaptation and mitigation in forest management. We do agree that there are knowledge gaps relative to examinations and explanations of causal mechanisms to explain decision-making and policy process outcomes that have already occurred, and we encourage research to address these gaps. Ultimately, this aspect of social science research is complementary to, not a substitute for, barriers research.

scholarly journals Theorizing the resilience district: Design-based decision making for coastal climate change adaptation

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-17
Author(s):  
Alan M. Berger ◽  
Michael Wilson ◽  
Jonah Susskind ◽  
Richard J. Zeckhauser
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Coastal Climate
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document