Model Forests and Climate Change
Climate change is an existential threat to nature and society. As climate shocks intensify and the impacts of anthropogenically-induced global warming become increasingly damaging to people and ecosystems, there is an urgent need to promote adaptation and mitigation while simultaneously ensuring biodiversity, ecosystem services, and socioeconomic co-benefits. Model Forests provide valuable lessons and replicable models, balancing forest conservation and human needs while acting as Nature-based Climate Solutions.
This technical brief—prepared for the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nation Framework Convention of Climate Change (COP30)—provides background on the connections between forests and climate change, then presents lessons and a case study from the International Model Forest Network (IMFN). As countries, communities, civil society, and the private sector work to address climate change, it is essential to carry forward these lessons from Model Forests, translating them across contexts and scales. By encouraging uptake of the Nature-based Climate Solutions already driving change in Model Forests, the global community will be better equipped to combat climate change and its effects.
This publication has been produced with financial support from the Government of Canada’s Global Forest Leadership Program and through the International Model Forest Network (IMFN) Secretariat's IMFN Climate initiative.
Citizen science, also called community science, is a common term for a wide range of participatory…
