In recent decades, there has been extensive debate among scientists and forest managers regarding the impacts of climate change and how the forestry sector should respond. Two points have garnered a certain degree of consensus: (i) forests play a necessary role as a nature-based solution for climate change mitigation, and (ii) adaptation to the new climate scenario is necessary.

Until now, mitigation through forest management has been the focus of the debate, and certain successes have been observed, such as the quantification of CO₂ sequestered in forests (carbon credits) and the identification and reduction, to the extent possible, of risks associated with climate change.

However, adaptation to climate change has been largely absent from the debate to the point where we must ask whether it is possible to adapt forests themselves or whether it is our silvicultural methods that need to be adapted.

This presentation will review the role of forest management in mitigating climate change and will explore various alternatives, some of which have already been tested, for adapting both ecosystems and forest management to the changing and uncertain reality of climate change. The need for well-established data, information, and knowledge that should be openly available will be discussed as an indispensable source for making decisions based on the best available scientific knowledge, so that these decisions are acceptable to society, scientifically sound, and economically viable.