Climate change adaptation and sustainable forest management: A proposed reflexive research agenda

Abstract

This article is a synthesis of the salient topics discussed in the Climate Change Adaptation and Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) Workshop, held at the University of British Columbia, February 14-16, 2011, and lays out a research agenda based on the recommendations for future research that emerged in the workshop. The proposed research agenda is framed using the theory of reflexive modernization to enable the forest research community to consider how different modes of knowledge production can support adaptation within SFM. The workshop discussions highlighted the importance of considering extreme events and high uncertainty in planning for adaptation within SFM. Participants discussed the utility of climate change modeling and risk assessment for local decision-making. In addition, there was general agreement that adaptive collaborative management could facilitate adaptation within SFM, despite difficulties in implementation. The recommendations for future research that emerged from the workshop focused on climate change-related assessments, modeling techniques, and governance and institutional enablers/barriers to adaptation. This broad research agenda, however, can be approached using different modes of knowledge production, illustrating different orders of reflexivity. Apart from a call for more traditional academic research to improve SFM under climate change, workshop participants referred to the need for participatory research, in which researchers would be embedded in communities and other contexts of application, engaging in a "client-focused" partnership model to produce knowledge that is robust, compelling, legitimate and, above all, locally relevant. It is hoped that this alternative mode of knowledge production would result in a social license and greater political will to accelerate adaptation within SFM.

Climate change impacts and adaptation in forest management: a review

“…However, Nilsson et al (2012) found that institutionalising of knowledge and knowledge exchange regarding climate change adaptation in Sweden was weak and that improved mechanisms are required for feedback from the local to the national level. Recent studies have described stronger relationships between scientific research and forest management to assess trade-offs and synergies, for participatory decision making and for shared learning Littell et al 2012;Klenk et al 2011).…”

Modelling of Climate Conditions in Forest Vegetation Zones as a Support Tool for Forest Management Strategy in European Beech Dominated Forests

“…They also provide a science-based rationale for forest management decisions [48] based on the adaptation approach to forest ecosystems [49]. Forest management adaptation strategies [50] aimed at sustainability must take into account a range of economic [51] and social aspects [52][53][54]. There are many uncertainties concerning the impact of climate change on European forests [6], so another goal of this study is to highlight the importance of the somewhat neglected biogeographical models, rooted in the concept of the forest vegetation zones.…”

The Neglect of Governance in Forest Sector Vulnerability Assessments: Structural-Functionalism and “Black Box” Problems in Climate Change Adaptation Planning

“…Klenk et al (2011), for example, use the framework of reflexive modernization to highlight governance obstacles to achieving sustainable forest management goals. While some studies have explicitly recognized the need for a theoretical synthesis that addresses governance variables in natural resource and environmental studies without appealing to functionalist explanations of how these variables affect other system components, these remain few and far between.…”