The CIFOR is urging the buffering of ecosystems against climate-related disturbances and selecting species in plantations better suited to predicted climate changes. “The imperative to assist forests and forest communities to adapt to climate change has been poorly addressed in national policies and international negotiations,” said Frances Seymour, director general of the CIFOR. “The adaptation challenge is being treated as secondary to mitigation, and yet the two are inextricably linked.” Seymour noted forests provide millions of people with income, food, medicines and building materials, as well as delivering many vital ecosystem services such as flood or drought regulation and water purification. They are, therefore, critical to the ability of human societies to adapt to climate change.

“Conserving the existing forests is not only good for the climate as the emissions of greenhouse gases are reduced but also generates additional benefits, such as biodiversity protection” said Dr. Daniel Murdiyarso of the Indonesia-based Centre for International Forestry (CIFOR). Tropical forests contain more than half of the Earth’s terrestrial species and Southeast Asia’s forests are among the richest in species. They also store around 46 percent of the world’s living terrestrial carbon and 25 percent of total net global carbon emissions may stem from deforestation.

L’étude, réalisée par le Centre pour la Recherche internationale sur les forêts (CIFOR) basé à Djakarta, invite les délégués réunis du 1 au 12 décembre à Poznan, en Pologne, pour une réunion de l’Onu consacrée au climat à rechercher de nouvelles manières de protéger les forêts dans les pays en développement. Elle souligne que le changement climatique devrait avoir des impacts allant de la sécheresse dans les forêts des régions montagneuses d’Amérique centrale – ce qui multiplier les incendies de forêt – à l’inondation des mangroves en Asie, due à l’élévation du niveau des mers.

But there is wide disagreement on how to assess the risks under the new UN treaty, due to be agreed by end-2009. Forest owners want full access to credits as fast as possible. But insurers suggest that half be retained in buffer funds in case forests vanish in a few decades. If a forest disappeared, the credits in the funds would go to them. “How much land managers will see of the price is what the excitement is about,” said Frances Seymour, head of the Centre for International Forestry Research in Indonesia.

Forest owners want full access to credits as fast as possible. But insurers suggest that half be retained in buffer funds in case forests vanish in a few decades. If a forest disappeared, the credits in the funds would go to them. “How much land-managers will see of the price is what the excitement is about,” said Frances Seymour, head of the Center for International Forestry Research in Indonesia.

Forests are extremely vulnerable to climate change that is set to bring more wildfires and floods and quick action is needed to aid millions of poor people who depend on forests, a study said on Thursday. The report, by the Jakarta-based Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), urged delegates at a UN climate meeting in Poznan, Poland, from December 1-12 to work out new ways to safeguard forests in developing nations. It said climate change could have impacts ranging from a drying out of cloud forests in mountainous regions of Central America – making wildfires more frequent – to swamping mangroves in Asia as seas rise.

Climate change will transform forests that directly sustain nearly one billion people, warns a report to be released next week at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Poznán, Poland. The report, issued by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), calls for the implementation of adaptation measures to reduce the vulnerability of forests and forest-dependent communities to wildfires, drought, flooding, disease, and other environmental challenges.

The report, titled Facing an Uncertain Future: How Forests and People can Adapt to Climate Change, argues that forests are “critical to the ability of human societies to adapt to climate change” and should be treated accordingly in international climate negotiations. “The imperative to assist forests and forest communities to adapt to climate change has been poorly addressed in national policies and international negotiations. The adaptation challenge is being treated as secondary to mitigation, and yet the two are inextricably linked,” said Frances Seymour, Director General of CIFOR.

Les forêts sont extrêmement vulnérables au changement climatique qui risque d’entraîner davantage de feux de forêt et d’inondation et des mesures sont à prendre rapidement pour aider les personnes pauvres qui dépendent des forêts, affirme une étude rendue publique jeudi.L’étude, réalisée par le Centre pour la Recherche internationale sur les forêts (CIFOR) basé à Djakarta, invite les délégués réunis du 1 au 12 décembre à Poznan, en Pologne, pour une réunion de l’Onu consacrée au climat à rechercher de nouvelles manières de protéger les forêts dans les pays en développement.

Similar article appeared in Le Nouvel Observateur, Le Point, L’Express, Liberation and Reuters