Climate change mitigation in forest systems are among the most cost-effective and promoted mitigation measures, and include afforestation, forest restoration, forest protection, and forest management. However, the efficiency of these mitigation measures can vary depending on their specific location and the management strategies employed, and their impact on water, biodiversity, and other ecosystem services can be ambiguous. For instance, the ability of afforestation to continue sequestering carbon under climate change will depend critically on the future risks for fire, droughts, and pests.
Despite a growing body of literature, there are still knowledge gaps concerning the efficiency of forest-based measures in maintaining functionality under shifting hydroclimatic conditions. As forests are social-ecological systems, tackling this issue must be approached through an interdisciplinary lens and with an understanding of the biophysical and social, ecological, economic, and governance implications of these measures.
This session aims to explore and enhance the understanding of forests’ capacity to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change and examine the ecosystem services forests provide.
We invite contributions that present novel methods and tools, emerging evidence, case studies, policies, and innovative conceptualizations. We particularly encourage studies that link various disciplines to clarify the nuances of forest-based mitigation measures.
This session will cover the following topics, along with other related subjects:
• Modeling climate and environmental influences on forests and the delivery of different ecosystem services under different mitigation measures
• Unraveling the social, ecological, and economic co-benefits and trade-offs of forest-based mitigation measures
• Insights, tools, and practices enabling the successful implementation of mitigation measures and enhancement of social-ecological systems’ resilience
• Governance or agent-based models to improve the societal and environmental benefits of mitigation measures
• Better understanding of opportunities and limitations of mitigation measures
• The implications of forest-based mitigation measures on enhancing forest resilience against disturbances
• Methods and tools for decision and adaptation support in the forestry, considering multiple stakeholders and multifunctional perspectives
• New development and analysis of forest scenarios