17 September 2013: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has released guidelines on climate change for forest managers, which discuss the projected positive and negative impacts of climate change on policy, social, economic and biophysical forest factors.

The guidelines discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with climate change mitigation and adaptation in forests, the role of sustainable forest management (SFM) in climate change responses, the links between climate change policies and forest management, and vulnerability and risk assessments. They also present guiding frameworks for climate change mitigation and adaptation activities to be carried out by forest managers.

Overall, the guidelines conclude that climate change is expected to impact the distribution, composition, structure and functioning of forest ecosystems. As such, climate change presents challenges for forest managers, which can be addressed, in part, through SFM, efforts to address deforestation and forest degradation, and forest monitoring and reporting. [Publication: Climate Change Guidelines for Forest Managers – FAO Forestry Paper 172] [FAO Press Release]