According to this paper, adaptation is necessary for reducing the impacts of climate change on forests and societies. A detailed assessment of the expected impacts is thus essential. This working paper provides an overview of methods and tools that are 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.