Adaptation of forest ecosystems and the forest sector to climate change

This report discusses climate change adaptation strategies with an emphasis on forest ecosystems. The paper argues that adaptation measures must be part of a country’s development process, and that every adaptation action should be framed within the national development policies. The paper discussed the following:an introduction to the topic of climate change in the context of international policymaking, its relationship to sustainable development, and the most important environmental conventions of the United Nations system organizationsthe theoretical basis for responding to the problem of climate change, starting with a summary of the scientific knowledge accumulated so far. It also presents a description and analysis of positive and negative impacts deriving from a changing climate, with emphasis on forest ecosystemsinternational institutions and the challenges for institutional development at the national level, including the importance of adaptation policy as the framework for actions aimed at decreasing vulnerabilitythe stages in adaptation process to climate change and their concrete application in the forest sectorprojects for each stage of the adaptation process presenting examples of potential projects that cover the national, subnational and very local levelsthe financing of adaptation measures in the forest sector. It considers the limitations of UNFCCC and widens the spectrum to include all those entities and financial mechanisms that are interested in sustainable forest management.