Climate change and the forest sector: Perception of principal impacts and of potential options for adaptation

Abstract

As evidence points to the importance of climate change (CC) impacts on forests, it is critical to understand how forestry and forest-dependent communities will be affected. People active in the Quebec forest sector were consulted about their perceptions on the most important potential impacts and adaptation measures. Preoccupations covered many aspects of natural ecosystems, forest-based communities, and industries. Expected impacts and adaptation measures were grouped according to biomes and sectors. Prioritized impacts included increases in extreme meteorological events and natural disturbances. Impacts were also expected for human or economic systems such as reductions in wood volume and quality, difficulties in accessing forests, and additional costs for forest operations. Adaptation was perceived to come from new policies, a greater awareness, and local and regional adjustments to forest operations and management. Identified barriers to adaptation included lack of knowledge or understanding of CC impacts, lack of scientific support and knowledge transfer, and lack of leadership in CC issues at a regional scale. This synthesis will help orient future needs in climate-sensitive forest management planning and identify ways to increase adaptive capacity of the forest sector.Keywords: climate change, adaptation measures, impacts, perception, barriers to adaptation, forest management, Quebec, Canada, forest sector RÉSUMÉLes impacts des changements climatiques (CCs) sur la forêt sont déjà observés et iront en s'amplifiant dans le futur. Dans ce contexte, il importe de comprendre comment les communautés et l'industrie forestière seront affectées. Des professionnels du secteur forestier québécois ont été consultés lors d'un atelier afin de recueillir leurs perceptions des impacts potentiels des CCs et des possibles mesures d'adaptation. Les préoccupations touchaient les écosystèmes naturels, ainsi que les collectivités et l'industrie forestière. Les impacts identifiés incluaient l'augmentation des évènements météorologiques extrêmes et des perturbations naturelles, une diminution quantitative et qualitative du bois, ainsi que de plus grandes difficultés d'accès aux territoires et des coûts additionnels pour les opérations. Les mesures d'adaptation pourraient comprendre de nouvelles règlementations, une meilleure sensibilisation aux enjeux, et des ajustements locaux et régionaux dans la gestion et les opérations. Les barrières à l'adaptation identifiées incluaient une faible compréhension des enjeux au niveau des intervenants du milieu forestier, ainsi qu'un manque de soutien scientifique, de transfert des connaissances, et de leadership à l' échelle régionale. Cette synthèse aidera à orienter les besoins en matière de planification et de gestion et à identifier des solutions pour augmenter la capacité d'adaptation du secteur forestier. Mots

Perceptions of climate change across the Canadian forest sector: The key factors of institutional and geographical environment

“…Based on our results, the Canadian forest sector shows a greater consensus (almost 90%) on the cause of climate change than the general public in Canada (40.0%) [ 34 , 35 ]. This high acceptance of the reality and causes of climate change has already been pointed out by previous smaller-scale studies in some Canadian provinces [ 15 , 18 , 36 ], but our study highlights that it applies throughout the territory. The forest sector has similarly shown more awareness of climate change than the general population in several European countries [ 13 , 37 – 39 ], likely due to the direct impact of climate and its associated disturbances on the source of their economic well-being.…”

“…These results are encouraging from a policy point of view since the inability to predict impacts with sufficient detail and certainty (i.e. uncertainty aversion) has been commonly identified as one of the main barriers to implementation of adaptive practices [ 15 , 48 , 49 ].…”

“…As such, determining the awareness and risk perception among stakeholders and across provinces, where management policies are implemented, is critical to evaluating their readiness to engage in the adaptation process. Moreover, identifying the driving factors influencing perceptions can help minimize any waste of resources due to erroneous assumptions [ 15 ], and avoid conflicts among groups when designing and implementing awareness campaigns or adaptation strategies [ 16 , 17 ].…”

“…In this study, we present the results of the most comprehensive survey on perceptions about climate change that has been carried out in the Canadian forestry sector to date. Although some recent studies have assessed the perceptions of climate change in the forest sector for a particular agency or territory [ 15 , 18 ], our study covers a much wider geographical area and range of organizations, allowing us to compare for the first time how key institutions and geographical areas within the forest sector influence position on climate change within Canada. Participants were asked about their perceptions on climate change, its impacts on forest ecosystems, and the suitability of current forest management practices to address these impacts.…”

Adaptation of forest management to climate change as perceived by forest owners and managers in Belgium

“…Climate change has received increased attention by researchers and policy makers (see, for example, Spittlehouse and Stewart 2004;Lindner et al 2010;Keenan 2015;Seidl et al 2016), but more knowledge does not necessarily translate into greater acceptance, nor into behavioural change (Kahan et al 2012). Research and knowledge development must be coupled with effective communication in order to be successful (Morin et al 2015). For example, regarding the performance of mixed versus pure stands, Carnol et al (2014) have shown a discrepancy between the perceptions of practitioners and the scientific knowledge on the issue of productivity in mixed species stands, urging to the need to address the lack of scientific data and to improve the communication of the topic towards practitioners through efficient information flow.…”