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Updated: Oct 6, 2025
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Field Collection and Laboratory Maintenance of Canopy-Forming Giant Kelp to Facilitate Restoration
Published on: June 7, 2024
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Difficult climate-adaptive decisions in forests as complex social-ecological systems
Kieran Findlater1,2,3, Robert Kozak4, Shannon Hagerman4
1Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada; k.findlater@alumni.ubc.ca.
Summary
Climate-adaptive forest management, like assisted migration (AM), faces challenges due to unknown risks and diverse stakeholder values. Understanding these complexities is crucial for effective climate adaptation strategies in forest ecosystems.
Area of Science:
- Forestry and Environmental Science
- Social-Ecological Systems Analysis
Background:
- Climate change poses significant threats to forest-dependent communities globally.
- Climate-adaptive forest management, including assisted migration (AM), is proposed to mitigate these threats.
- Novel interventions like AM introduce new risks and uncertainties interacting with existing values and risks.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how diverse stakeholders perceive the risks and uncertainties associated with assisted migration (AM) as a climate-adaptive forest management strategy.
- To understand the complexities and trade-offs involved in climate-adaptive decision-making within social-ecological systems.
- To highlight the influence of knowledge gaps and differing values on the acceptability of AM.
Main Methods:
- Conducted 16 focus groups in British Columbia, Canada.
- Included diverse stakeholder groups: forestry professionals, environmental NGOs, local government, and business communities.
- Analyzed stakeholder emphasis on different risks and uncertainties regarding AM.
Main Results:
- Stakeholders emphasize varied risks and uncertainties, complicating judgments on AM appropriateness.
- Decisions on climate adaptation involve complex trade-offs across multiple domains of uncertain risks.
- Forest ecosystem health and integrity are paramount, but knowledge gaps hinder AM assessment.
- The study reveals risks in prioritizing natural science over other knowledge forms in policy.
Conclusions:
- Assisted migration (AM) acceptability is contingent on navigating complex social-ecological dynamics and knowledge uncertainties.
- Effective climate-adaptive forest management requires integrating diverse stakeholder values and knowledge systems.
- Framing adaptation decisions technically can obscure critical normative and ethical considerations.
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