Forest Management and Climate Change: stakeholder perceptions

This document is part of the publications series produced by the Forest and Climate Change Programme of FAO. The programme seeks to provide timely information and tools to a wide range of stakeholders, with the ultimate objective  of assisting countries’ efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change through actions consistent with sustainable forest management. FAO,  in collaboration with forest management and climate change experts and relevant stakeholders,  is currently developing guidelines to assist forest managers to understand, assess and implement climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. The guidelines will highlight adjustments that may be considered in the planning, implementation and monitoring phases of forest management to accommodate climate change considerations. They will be relevant for all forest types, all management objectives and all types of managers. To facilitate the development of the guidelines, FAO conducted an online survey of forest stakeholders. The survey sought to assess their perceptions of the impacts of climate change on forests and the impediments that limit the ability of forest managers to prepare and respond to climate change. This publication presents a summary of the results of the survey. A complete set of the results are available on the FAO Forests and Climate Change Programme website (www.fao.org/forestry/climatechange/en/). The publication will be of interest to forest managers, policy-makers, researchers, students, communications specialists and general audiences interested in forests and climate change.