FORESTS AND SOCIETY – RESPONDING TO GLOBAL DRIVERS OF CHANGERegional Examples of Forest Related Challenges and Opportunities 14 Sustainability of Boreal Forests and Forestry in a Changing Environment

• Main Authors: Timo Kuuluvainen, Brenda J. Mcafee, Aynslie Ogden, Victor K. Teplyakov, Contributing René, I. Alfaro, Danielle A. Francis, Sylvie Gauthier, Jarkko Hantula
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Climate change; permafrost; Tundra
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.434.7915; http://www.iufro.org/download/file/5901/4668/247-282_pdf/

Abstract: The circumpolar boreal forest is the fourth largest terrestrial biome on the planet. It is entering a period of relatively rapid transition, propelled by climate change and economic development. Warming conditions threaten to alter processes as diverse as permafrost retention, insect outbreaks, and transportation. Thawing permafrost and increased levels of natural and anthropogenic disturbance may result in net releases of carbon dioxide and methane, while forest cover with greater biomass can be expected to expand onto the arctic tundra. Human use in some parts of northern forests is becoming more centralised and industrialised, with cumulative impacts from hydroelectric development, the oil and gas sector, mining, timber harvesting, and transportation. Communities tend to be widely spaced, and are either highly dependent on resource-based commodity exports or on subsistence-based lifestyles supported by local biodiversity. Efforts are underway in many jurisdictions to curtail illegal logging and environmentally damaging industrial development, to account for non-timber forest values in the course of forest management, and to promote the economic diversification of communities. In order to preserve the integrity of ecosystem processes, efforts