INTRODUCTION
Global climate change is the defining issue of our time. The unrelenting rise in temperatures and the changes in the climate regimes around the world brings great uncertainty and a need for action.
Climate change represents a major threat to forestry as we practice it at the present time. It also presents a major opportunity to design and re-configure our managed forests. Trees and forest ecosystems are very effective at sequestering and storing carbon from the atmosphere. The expansion and restoration of forests will make a major contribution to mitigating the impact of industrialisation and population rise on the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
This page contains a range of information relating to global climate change and potential impacts on forests. With all planning and mitigation there is a degree of uncertainty about future climate trajectories and impacts. Therefore, there is generally a push to increase the overall diversity of managed forests, by embracing a wider range of genetic resources, tree species, silvicultural systems. This general expected to enhance the ecological resilience of managed forest resources, reducing the overall threat from climate and other environmental threats, including introduced pests and diseases.
Policy and guidance information has been published in several years by most forestry agencies, building on a significant and growing body of primary research and evidence.
A selection of resources from Ireland and the UK are here:
- Climate Change Factsheets | Forest Research | UK [external link]
- Climate Change and Irish Forestry | COFORD Connects | Ireland [pdf download]
- Resilient Forests | Scottish Forestry | Scotland [external link]
- Overview of forest resilience [external link]
- Using alternative conifer species for productive forestry in Scotland [pdf download]
- Managing England’s Forests in a Climate Emergency | Forestry Commission | England [pdf download]
- UK Forests and Climate Change | Forest Research | UK [external link]
USEFUL LINKS
Ecological Site Classification (ESC 3) – ecological tool that supports species choice in a changing climate.
LITERATURE AND REFERENCES
- Combating climate change – a role for UK forests (UK Forestry Commission), link here.
Page updated: 29 March 2020