The implementation of adaptation actions in local conservation management is a new and complex task with multiple facets, influenced by factors differing from site to site. A transdisciplinary perspective is therefore required to identify and implement effective solutions. To address this, the International Conference on Managing Protected Areas under Climate Change brought together international scientists, conservation managers, and decision-makers to discuss current experiences with local adaptation of conservation management. This paper summarizes the main issues for implementing adaptation that emerged from the conference. These include a series of conclusions and recommendations on monitoring, sensitivity assessment, current and future management practices, and legal and policy aspects. A range of spatial and temporal scales must be considered in the implementation of climate-adapted management. The adaptation process must be area-specific and consider the ecosystem and the social and economic conditions within and beyond protected area boundaries. However, a strategic overview is also needed: management at each site should be informed by conservation priorities and likely impacts of climate change at regional or even wider scales. Acting across these levels will be a long and continuous process, requiring coordination with actors outside the "traditional" conservation sector. To achieve this, a range of research, communication, and policy/legal actions is required. We identify a series of important actions that need to be taken at different scales to enable managers of protected sites to adapt successfully to a changing climate.

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In this paper, high-resolution remote sensing data were used to investigate whether a change in the alpine forest limit is observable on the Hardangervidda plateau in south-west Norway. A comparison of declassified CORONA images from 1965 with modern digital aerial surveys from 2004 provided evidence for a change of forest limits towards higher elevations. However, the observed upslope movement is lower than should be expected considering local climate warming and changes in land use. Projections of climate-induced impacts on the forest limits on Hardangervidda based on equilibrium assumptions do not hold true. There are considerable differences between the reaction of forest cover and changes in tree line. Forest cover in alpine areas might show an extensive time lag in the reaction to climatic change, even though conditions for growth of individual trees may have improved considerably. Consequentially, it should be expected that warming temperatures will not cause an immediate and homogenous advancement of forest cover towards higher elevations.

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