Ines Omann und Julia Wesely schrieben Kapitel 11 “A Social Perspective on Adaptation in Forest Management” für das Buch “Forest Management of Mediterranean Forests under the New Context of Climate Change: Building Alternatives for the Coming Future” von Manuel Esteban Lucas-Borja.

Abstract von Kapitel 11:
Adapting to climate change challenges not only the ecological functioning of (Mediterranean) forests, but also societies related to these ecosystems. Due to the long life-span of trees, adaptation actions in the forest sector require careful, long-term planning that anticipates both gradual change processes as well as rapidly occurring events, such as migration of tree species or forest fires. In order to successfully implement adaptation actions, effects of these changes have to be seen in relation to the expected societal development, such as population growth or the development of new knowledge and management practices. Increasing coping and adaptive capacity requires therefore diverse and profound support of stakeholders, which includes e.g. forest managers, policy makers, inhabitants of the local community and recreationists. This chapter will analyse their ability to tackle climatic challenges by using the concept of human and social capital as societal resources that need to be build up and efficiently used to respond to sudden and gradual changes. Human capital hereby describes the health, knowledge, skills and motivation of an individual, whereas social capital refers to the networks, relationships and institutions in which this individual is applying his or her human capital. Using this approach can help to develop adaptation options by assessing the current capitals of the stakeholders, identifying their strengths and weaknesses and setting them in the context of climatic challenges that these stakeholders need to respond to.

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