Author Mansourian, S., Belokurov, A. & Stephenson, P.J.

Year of publication 2009

The relationship between forests and climate change is intricate. On the one hand forests can mitigate climate change by absorbing carbon, while on the other they can contribute to climate change if they are degraded or destroyed. In turn climatic changes may lead to forest degradation or loss – which exacerbates climate change further. Protected areas that were set up to safeguard biodiversity and ecological processes are likely to be affected by climate change in a number of ways. Climate change is expected to cause species to migrate to areas with more favourable temperature and precipitation. There is a high probability that competing, sometimes invasive species, more adapted to a new climate, will move in. Such movements could leave some protected areas with a different habitat and species assemblage than they were initially designed to protect. This article explores the importance of forest protected areas for ecological, social and economic purposes, drawing on examples from the work carried out around the globe by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in the context of climate change. It focuses on the broader spatial context and the landscapes within which protected areas are found. It then proposes a range of management and policy responses to ensure that forest protected areas can continue to support biodiversity conservation in the face of climate change.