From Management to Stewardship: Viewing Forests As Complex Adaptive Systems in an Uncertain World

C Messier; K Puettmann; Robin L Chazdon; K P Andersson; V A Angers; L Brotons; E Filotas; R Tittler; L Parrott; S A Levin

doi:10.1111/conl.12156

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From Management to Stewardship: Viewing Forests As Complex Adaptive Systems in an Uncertain World

Journal article

Open access

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From Management to Stewardship: Viewing Forests As Complex Adaptive Systems in an Uncertain World

C Messier, K Puettmann, Robin L Chazdon, K P Andersson, V A Angers, L Brotons, E Filotas, R Tittler, L Parrott and S A Levin

Conservation Letters, Vol.8(5), pp.368-377

2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12156

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Abstract

complex adaptive systems

resilience

sustainable forest management

global change

socioecological systems

The world's forests and forestry sector are facing unprecedented biological, political, social, and climatic challenges. The development of appropriate, novel forest management and restoration approaches that adequately consider uncertainty and adaptability are hampered by a continuing focus on production of a few goods or objectives, strong control of forest structure and composition, and most importantly the absence of a global scientific framework and long-term vision. Ecosystem-based approaches represent a step in the right direction, but are limited in their ability to deal with the rapid pace of social, climatic, and environmental changes. We argue here that viewing forest ecosystems as complex adaptive system provides a better alternative for both production- and conservation-oriented forests and forestry. We propose a set of broad principles and changes to increase the adaptive capacity of forests in the face of future uncertainties. These span from expanding the sustained-yield, single-good paradigm to developing policy incentives and interventions that promote self-organization and integrated social-ecological adaptation. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Title: From Management to Stewardship: Viewing Forests As Complex Adaptive Systems in an Uncertain World
Authors: C Messier (Author) - Univeriste du Quebec a Montreal, Canada
K Puettmann (Author) - Oregon State University, United States
Robin L Chazdon (Author) - University of Connecticut, United States
K P Andersson (Author) - University of Colorado at Boulder, United States
V A Angers (Author) - Univeriste du Quebec a Montreal, Canada
L Brotons (Author) - Centre Tecnologic Forestal de Catalunya, Spain
E Filotas (Author) - TELUQ, Spain
R Tittler (Author) - Univeriste du Quebec a Montreal, Canada
L Parrott (Author) - UBC's Okanagan Campus, Canada
S A Levin (Author) - Princeton, United States
Publication details: Conservation Letters, Vol.8(5), pp.368-377
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Date published: 2015
DOI: 10.1111/conl.12156
ISSN: 1755-263X
Copyright note: Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Conservation Letters published byWiley Periodicals, Inc. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided theoriginal work is properly cited.
Organisation Unit: Tropical Forests and People Research Centre; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; Forest Research Institute
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99450579102621
Output Type: Journal article

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