Forest Management Approaches for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation: a Comparison Between Germany and Japan

Abstract

Forest management affects carbon sequestration (mitigation) and resilience of forest ecosystems (adaptation) under climate change. Therefore, the efforts to integrate these two approaches have been made by the political arrangements to seek the synergy effects and deal with trade-offs. To study the state of the art linkages and forest policies to realize both adaptation and mitigation, we systematically review the literature highlighting the topic (136 publications) and outline two different approaches from Germany and Japan as countries with substantial forest resources and high influences on international forest policies and wood trade. We identify three linkages: (1) an ecosystem (based) approach assuming that a resilient ecosystem (adaptation), has high potential as a carbon sink (mitigation), (2) a sustainable forest management (SFM) aiming for enhancing forests' resilience and carbon sink potential simultaneously, and (3) a crosssectoral approach generating synergies among multiple sectors of agriculture, forestry, urban design, and nature conservation. We find that a significant objective is still SFM for sustaining the forest area andwood production, where SFM examples in Germany and Japan exemplify contributions to carbon sinks and ongoing disaster risk management, respectively. Overall, the current differentiated objectives of SFM do not underpin the twofold approach and their synergy effects.

Research on carbon balance in Japan

“…1). К слову об изменении климата и лесохозяйственной деятельности, можно отметить, что несколько статей посвящены оценке экосистемных функций лесов в целом, в том числе вопросам лесоклиматических проектов [42][43][44][45].…”

Impacts of Cross-Sectoral Climate Policy on Forest Carbon Sinks and Their Spatial Spillover: Evidence from Chinese Provincial Panel Data

“…Through empirical analysis, Xu et al found that cross-sectoral climate policy is more conducive to achieving the goal of increasing forest carbon sinks by implementing multiple strategies rather than only a single strategy [ 45 ]. Moreover, cross-sectoral climate policies not only reap the benefits of reduced carbon emissions but also promote carbon emissions and carbon sequestration to offset each other [ 46 ]. It can be seen that a cross-sectoral climate policy can not only promote the increase of forest carbon sinks but also reduce the cost of climate policies.…”

Forests and Climate Change: Analysis of local experiences of climate change impacts in Nepal’s community forestry

“…The CFOMP has a core action plan on CC and recognises groups' contribution to strengthening local livelihoods and diversifying income sources(Mishra et al, 2019).Authorised forest professionals, including the Divisional Forest O cer (DFO), national and state government authorities monitor and evaluate the plan's activities.2.2 Mitigation strategy for CCBiophysical interactions between mixed tree species with an active silvicultural management plan play a vital role in the mitigation strategy for CC. Open discussions with local stakeholders, forestry professionals, and political leaders at national, state, and local level are required to develop and implement the CFOMP with a clear aim of CC mitigation(Yousefpour et al, 2020). Cross-sector coordination, stakeholders' integration, democratic decision-making and enhancing forestry professionals' capacity assist the mitigation strategies with nancial resources (Ahmed et al, 2019).3.…”