Project title: The Adaptation of Asia-Pacific Forests to Climate Change

Executing agency: Department of Forest Resources Management, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia

Technical assistance partners: Environmental Canada; BC Ministry of Forests, Mines and Lands; US Forest Services; University of Melbourne; Chinese Academy of Forestry; Jiangxi Agricultural University; Nanjing Forestry University; Research Institute of Insect Resources, China

Target economies: China, Canada, Austria

Duration: 36 months, 1 Nov 2011-31 Oct 2014

Goal: The project aims to develop adaptive strategies that will facilitate an increase in the resilience of forests and forest-dependent communities in the Asia-Pacific region to climate change by applying state-of-the-art technologies and analytical approaches from climate modelling, geospatial analysis and sustainable forest management.

Objectives and activities

Objective 1: Analysis of current knowledge on impacts of climate on forests in the Asia-Pacific Region

 ♦  Research on climate change and forest adaptation and mitigation

 ♦  Climate issues in the Asia-Pacific region, and current strategies and actions

 ♦  Accomplishment and effectiveness analysis, and opportunities for improvement

Objective 2: Development and application of high-resolution climate models ClimateWNA  and ClimateAP

 ♦  Data collection and processing

 ♦  Model development

 ♦  Model validation and the generation of climate maps for the reference and future periods

Objective 3: Development of ecological models

 ♦  Collection of vegetation data including the data for three major tree species distributions in western North America, China and Australia

 ♦  Generation of high-resolution climate data for the locations where vegetation data are collected, and gridded climate data for projections of bioclimate envelope maps.

 ♦  Development of models to capture the plant-climate relationships using the machine-learning approach Random Forest and process-based approach TACA and LANDIS models.

Objective 4: Pilot study and development of recommendations for SFM practices for adaptation

 ♦  pilot research work

 ♦  Integration between ecological model predictions and local forest management

 ♦  Application of best management practices to the pilot sites

Objective 5: Communication, network building and technology transfer

Objective 6: development of web-based climate tools for APFNet

Expected outputs: A report analyzing current knowledge on climate change studies in forest ecosystems and forest dependent communities in this region; High-resolution climate models that can generate  climate data for any location in the region for historical years (1901‒2010) and future periods (2020s, 2050s and 2080s). High-resolution climate maps including some important climate variables, such as mean annual temperature, mean annual precipitation, arid index and growing degree-days, for the entire region; Ecological models that predict impacts of climate change on major tree species distributions (Chinese fir; Eucalyptus; and Douglas-fir). Maps of predicted shifts in suitable climatic conditions for these major marketable tree species will be provided for various climate change scenarios; SFM recommendations to increase the resilience of forests and forest-dependent communities in the Asia-Pacific region to climate change; A network that connects scientists, forest managers and policy makers in the region to share information, knowledge and new research products; Web-based scientific tools for regional forest rehabilitation and afforestation including interactive climate models, climate maps, bioclimate maps for major ecosystems and some important tree species.

 Project documents

Policy brief.pdf   Project Completion Report.pdf   publications.pdf