Beyond Kyoto: Forest management in a time of rapid climate change

Policies to reduce global warming by offering credits of carbon sequestrati on have neglected the effects of forest management on biodiversity. I revie w properties of forest ecosystems and management options for enhancing the resistance and resilience of forests to climate change. Although forests, a s a class, have proved resilient to past changes in climate, today's fragme nted and degraded forests are more vulnerable. Adaptation of species to cli mate change can occur through phenotypic plasticity, evolution, or migratio n to suitable sites, with the latter probably the most common response in t he past. Among the land-use and management practices likely to maintain for est biodiversity and ecological functions during climate change are (1) rep resenting forest types across environment gradients in reserves; (2) protec ting climatic refugia at multiple scales; (3) protecting primary forests; ( 4) avoiding fragmentation and providing connectivity, especially parallel t o climatic gradients: (5) providing buffer zones for adjustment of reserve boundaries; (6) practicing low-intensity forestry and preventing conversion of natural forests to plantations; (7) maintaining natural fire regimes; ( 8) maintaining diverse gene pools; and (9) identifying and protecting funct ional groups and keystone species. Good forest management in a time of rapi dly changing climate differs little from good forest management under more static conditions, but there is increased emphasis on protecting climatic r efugia and providing connectivity.