Methods and tools for assessing the vulnerability of forests and people to climate change: an introduction

Abstract

Cover photo by Bruno Locatelli AcknowledgementsThe authors thank CIFOR and associated scientists who provided information about their use of methods and tools for vulnerability assessment: Benjamin Apraku Gyampoh, Angela Diaz, Heru Santoso, Houria Djoudi, Javier Saborio, Kologo Oumarou, Luis Molina, Pablo Imbach, Placide Hien, Raffaele Vignola, Stephen Lartey Tekpetey. DisclaimersThe views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of CIFOR.This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union (EuropeAid/ENV/2004-81719). The contents of this document can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.w o r k i n g P A P e r n o . 4 3 3 Adaptation is necessary for reducing the impacts of climate change on forests and societies. So far, forests, forest ecosystem services, and forest-dependent people or sectors have not been adequately represented in adaptation studies or policies, even though many methods and tools are available to help scientists or practitioners address questions related to vulnerability and adaptation. Methods and tools can help identify the impacts of climate change at the global, national, sectoral or local scale and bring useful results for policies on climate change. Other methods and tools aim at assessing local vulnerability for prioritising policy interventions or developing and monitoring adaptation responses.This working paper provides an overview of methods and tools suitable for assessing the vulnerability of forests, forest ecosystem services and forest-dependent people or sectors to climate change. It provides a typology of methods and tools and gives examples, taken mostly from the experience of Center for International Forest Research (CIFOR) and Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) in the Tropical Forests and Climate Change Adaptation (TroFCCA) project in Central America, West Africa and Asia. The scope of the analysis is first described (section 2). Then generic methods and tools are presented (section 3), followed by methods and tools for the vulnerability of ecosystems (section 4), people (section 5), and integrated socio-ecological systems (section 6). KeywordsClimate change, Adaptation, Vulnerability, Forest, Forest Communities, Ecosystem Services, Tools, Methods, Models.