Criterion 7. Legal, Institutional, and Economic Framework for Forest Conservation and
Sustainable Management
National Report on Sustainable Forests—2010
Indicator 7.64.
Capacity To Conduct and Apply Research and Development Aimed at Improving Forest Manage­ment and Delivery of Forest Goods and Services and the Ability To Predict Impacts on Forests
of Possible Climate Change
What is the indicator and why is it important?
Climate change may affect forest distribution, extent,
pathogens, and productivity. Capacity is needed to quantify
the effects of climate change on forest productivity, plant and
animal species range shifts, carbon sequestration, water yield,
forest health, and changes in stand structure––as is the ability to
integrate effects across atmospheric, ecological, and economic
systems. Improved understanding of climate change effects
will increase the capability to make better informed and earlier
climate change mitigating actions, thus, improving the likelihood that forests will be managed on a sustainable basis.
What does the indicator show?
In addition to the moderate research on assessing the effects
of traditional forest management practices on forest health,
the United States is now devoting a considerable amount of
scientific resources to analyze the effects of global climate
change on forests, at an aggregate national and regional scale.
The analysis uses likely climate change scenarios to predict
the biological effects on forest distribution and growth and on
pathogens, economic conditions, and possible policy responses.
The analysis also uses several components of the MP C&I.
Most of these analyses of the effects of human intervention
on forests in response to climate change or normal forest
management activities occur as informational and educational
policy mechanisms, through research, professional education,
and planning. The analysis explores both the opportunities for
forests to mitigate climate change through management actions
to increase carbon storage, and management techniques that
forests might need to respond to the impacts of climate change.
The private sector is becoming actively involved in these
analyses in terms of risk analysis for management impacts, for
opportunities to develop income streams through carbon storage, and for long range planning. Insurance firms are becoming
involved in quantitatively estimating climate change impacts,
as are agricultural and forest production firms, such as equipment manufacturers and herbicide and pesticide manufacturers.
What has changed since 2003?
Research about the ability of forests to adapt to climate change
and to contribute to amelioration of climate change has occurred for nearly two decades. An emerging consensus among
experts is that climate change is certain, that the loss of forests
contributes to the severity of climate change effects, and that
Table 64-1. Policy and Governance Classification.
Mechanism
Nondiscretionary/mandatorya
Informational/educationalb
Discretionary/voluntaryc
Fiscal/economicd
Market basede
Scale:
National (N),
Regional (R),
State (S),
Local (L)
N, R, S
Approach
Prescriptive
Process or
Systems Based
Performance or
Outcome Based
Private
Enterprise
R, E
S
M
Laws (L), Regulations or Rules (R), International Agreements (I), Government Ownership or Production (G).
Education (E), Technical Assistance (T), Research (R), Protection (P), Analysis and Planning (A).
c
Best Management Practices (B), Self-regulation (S).
d
Incentives (I), Subsidies (S), Taxes (T), Payments for Environmental Service (P).
e
Free enterprise, private market allocation of forest resources (M), or market based instruments and payments, including forest certification (C) wetland banks (W), capand-trade (T), conservation easement or transfer of development rights (E).
a
b
Last Updated June 2011 1
National Report on Sustainable Forests—2010
sustainable forest management can help reduce these effects by
reducing forest loss and fostering resilient forest ecosystems
while storing additional carbon. This premise was explicitly
recognized in the 2007 Framework Convention on Climate
Change, in Bali, Indonesia. The contribution of Reducing
Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD)
Last Updated June 2011 explicitly identified a role for forestry policy in developing,
and developed countries. These international accords will call
for the scientific improvements that are needed to achieve the
goals of REDD and afforestation, through improved scientific
methods, better forest management choices, and more effective
extension and implementation of techniques.
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