Forest Ecosystems: Insights, Adaptations, and Mitigation Strategies to Climate Change

This chapter explores forest ecosystem dynamics by examining how behavioral insights, adaptive measures, and mitigation strategies interact in response to climate change across forest ecosystems. In its case studies, it analyzes the effects of climate change on the Alp forests of Switzerland to anticipate worsening impacts, investigates how adaptation is unfolding among residents and forest managers in New Zealand, revealing socio-psychological factors influencing decision-making and behavioral patterns among forest growers and discusses the impacts of climate change on European temperate forests using the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM). It evaluates mitigation strategies, highlighting direct and indirect implications for sustainable strategies underscoring the importance of considering behavioural changes when formulating climate change policies. The chapter concludes by emphasizing the significance of understanding the behavioural intricacies that shape people’s responses to forest ecosystems and climate change, advocating for their inclusion in developing effective mitigation and adaptation strategies.