Abstract:

The assessment of the vulnerability of Australian forests to climate change is an initiative of the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council (NRMMC). The National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) was approached to carry out such a comprehensive Forest Vulnerability Assessment (FVA). NCCARF engaged four research groups to investigate distinct aspects in relation to the vulnerability of forests, each of which has produced a report. In addition a fifth group was engaged to create a summary and synthesis report of the project.

This report – Establishing the need and consultation with key stakeholders in forest policy and management -  is the first in the series. Through stakeholder engagement this part of the FVA project was charged with:

•  identifying key issues to be addressed by the Forest Vulnerability Assessment;

•  determining to what extent climate change adaptation is being considered in current forest planning and management; and

•  determining the type of information that is needed by forest managers and policy makers to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

In addition, the FVA project utilised climate change scenario modelling to generate possible medium- and long-term climate futures for 2030 and 2070. These scenarios of temperature and precipitation change across Australia provided the backdrop to the Forest Vulnerability Assessment allowing all investigators to gauge the likely impacts on the biophysical and socio-economic components of forest systems. The scenarios generated for the project are reported here. 

Please cite this reports as:

Wood, K, Roiko, A, Waterman, P, Wallace, H & Warrick, RA 2011, Establishing the need and consultation with key stakeholders in forest policy and management under climate change. Contribution of Work Package 1 to the Forest Vulnerability Assessment, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Gold Coast, 116 pp.