ENV 695a () / 2023-2024

Yale Forest Forum Series: Understanding Climate Smart Forestry in Practice

Credits: 1 Fall 2023: M, 12:00-2:00, Marsh Rotunda/Classroom

The Forest School at the Yale School of the Environment has developed a new Seminar for Fall 2023 titled Understanding Climate Smart Forestry in Practice. This Seminar is part of the School’s Series on Forests and Climate.  This Fall series is co-sponsored by the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture. Climate-Smart Forestry (CSF) has become a buzzword across the forestry sector and beyond. However, climate-smart forestry is an often-used phrase without a commonly understood definition. From conservation non-profits to institutional landowners to policymakers wrestling with climate change and its impacts on forests, the focus is on issues related to forest management. In this seminar, we will learn from practitioners and researchers about how they put climate-smart forestry into practice. We will also learn how forests can be managed to enhance their carbon storage capabilities and/or to increase their resilience to the impacts of climate.
The seminar will explore questions like:
·         How can forests be managed to be resistant to fires, storms, pests, and other acute risks that are exacerbated by climate change?
·         What are the tradeoffs between managing forests for climate adaptation, climate mitigation, and other goals for producing goods and services and protecting ecological health?
·         How can CSF help keep communities safe and resilient and provide economic opportunities?
·         How do policies and markets influence CSF and its outcomes?
·         How are public forests being managed in a “climate smart” fashion? Is climate smart forestry different on public and private land?
·         How can incorporation of Indigenous knowledge and community connections to land improve outcomes for forests in a time of changing climate?
The guest lecture-based seminar series will draw on a wide range of perspectives and experiences. This course will primarily focus on forest practices in the United States, though its lessons may apply to forests around the world. We will hear from speakers from public sector organizations like the U. S. Forest Service, nonprofits like the Nature Conservancy and New England Forestry Foundation, researchers and academics from across the country, as well as practitioners “on-the-ground.”