Perspectives of forest practitioners on climate change adaptation in the Yukon and Northwest Territories of Canada

Forestry practitioners in the Yukon and Northwest Territories of Canada were asked to complete a questionnaire examining the likely impacts of climate change on forest sector sustainability and adaptation options to climate change. Practitioners were asked to self-assess their knowledge on various aspects of climate change and ranked their level of knowledge as generally only poor to fair, despite past educational efforts in this area. Changes in the intensity, severity or magnitude of forest insect outbreaks, changes in extreme weather events, and changes in the intensity, severity or magnitude of forest fires were the three impacts most frequently identified as having had an impact on sustainability. More than half of the respondents indicated that commodity prices, availability of timber, trade policies, environmental regulations, and the ability to secure needed capital as presently having more of a negative impact on sustainability than climate change. The assessment of 65 potential adaptation options was structured according to the criteria of the Montreal Process. The majority of respondents considered the goals of adaptation to be synonymous with the criteria of sustainable forest management, indicating the Montreal Process criteria provide a suitable framework for assessing adaptation options in the forest sector. The intensity, severity and magnitude of forest insect outbreaks under future climate conditions, forest growth and productivity, precipitation, climate variability and the intensity, severity and magnitude of forest fires were ranked as the most important areas where further information would be of assistance to decision-making.