Canadian Forest Service Publications

Adapting sustainable forest management to climate change: a systematic approach for exploring organizational readiness. 2012. Gray, P.A. Canadian Council of Forest Ministers, Ottawa, Ontario. 31 p.

Year: 2012

Issued by: Northern Forestry Centre

Catalog ID: 34556

Language: English

Availability: Order paper copy (free), PDF (download)

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Abstract

Any organization planning to proactively manage for climate change effects needs a game plan. A crucial first step is to identify the strengths and capabilities, along with weaknesses and gaps, that will affect the organization’s readiness to respond to the challenges of climate change. The organizational readiness of any business or other entity is based on its own combination of institutional structure and function, financial resources, acquisition and use of information, know-how, and adaptive decision making. Given that Canada is an ecologically diverse, multijurisdictional country, a single prescriptive approach to evaluating organizational readiness to address climate change is impossible. This report describes a systematic approach that practitioners can use to develop and answer a specific suite of questions that will in turn help them to assess their respective organizations’ readiness to adapt to the effects of climate change.

Plain Language Summary

This report, one in a series by Canadian Council of Forest Ministers’ Climate Change Task Force, is designed to help forestry organizations assess their readiness to make needed adaptations to climate change. Canada has many jurisdictions and broad ecological diversity, and there is no single way to ensure an organization is ready. Instead, the report offers a framework with a series of questions that organizations can ask to evaluate their own readiness. Important concepts are commitments to “learning by doing” and to maintaining the long-term health of forest ecosystems. The framework includes: defining the spatial scale and timeframe for planning; creating conditions of community empowerment (including trust, engagement with people, and informed leadership, among other conditions); and implementing the best mix of tools and techniques. The report provides background and guidance in 10 “themes” under the three main sections of the framework. Organizational readiness is one of the tools.

Also available under the title:
Adapter l’aménagement forestier durable aux changements climatiques : une approche systématique d’exploration de l’état de préparation organisationnelle. (French)