CLIMATE SMART FORESTRY

SFI builds essential foundations and key collaborations supporting SFI-certified organizations and communities to secure resilient and robust forest landscapes.

Forests face uncertain challenges, including widespread drought, expanding pest and disease outbreaks, severe weather events, and increasing fire intensity. At the core of sustainable forest management, SFI standards ensure that forests are responsibly cared for and provide sustained ecological benefits long into the future. SFI is leading efforts to identify and elevate practices on climate smart forestry, fire resiliency, and biodiversity conservation while supporting the communities that rely on resilient forests. By bridging science and practice, we empower decision-makers to implement data-driven actions that enhance forest health, incorporate cultural values, and reduce sector-wide greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate change presents immense challenges across all sectors and forestry is uniquely positioned to improve our climate outlook or to be catastrophically affected and further contribute to it. Addressing climate change requires an ambitious transformation towards an equitable and innovative climate smart bioeconomy to address climate risk, promote economic security, maximize co-benefits to nature and people, and advance change with appropriate speed.

Climate change also creates unique economic and environmental opportunities for rural forestlands and the communities that reside in them. In particular, the forest sector offers unprecedented opportunities for rural development, sustainable and valuable commodities, improvement of landscape-scale ecological functions, and climate change resilience and mitigation. Alongside climate change are the twin crises of biodiversity loss. These are inseparable, and a focus on climate must not override efforts to sustain and recover forest habitats, their vital ecosystem functions, and the imperiled species that depend on them. We are focused on maintaining and safeguarding forests, advancing recovery, and improving climate smart forestry (CSF) co-benefits, where possible.

MOVING FROM CONCEPT TO PRACTICE

SFI has launched a multi-year climate smart forestry initiative focused on advancing the interpretation and implementation of climate smart forestry across SFI’s Canadian and the United States footprint. The initiative focuses on both enhancing the carbon sink and reducing sources of emissions from the forest sector. In support of this, SFI has received funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Doris Duke Foundation, bringing additional resources to convene, interpret, synthesize, and build consensus. The initiative works directly with experts and SFI-certified organizations to reduce net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by identifying, developing, and implementing practices that meet the SFI FM Standard’s Climate Smart Forestry Objective while achieving co-benefits for biodiversity and wildfire risk reduction.

These efforts build on over a decade of collaboration by SFI with climate and forest management experts.

KEY OBJECTIVES

Develop and implement climate smart forestry principles and practices to support forest managers, Indigenous community partners, and forest-focused communities
Increase knowledge of regionally and site-specific climate smart forestry applications in North America
Strengthen the linkages between forest management decisions and emissions reductions
Establish databases to track and measure climate smart forestry outcomes
Co-develop and workshop with scientists, Indigenous communities, partner organizations, forest managers, and governmental decision-makers.
Articulate culturally-appropriate climate interventions in collaboration with Indigenous and other community partners
Pilot, assess, and measure climate smart forestry practices on forestlands
Communicate pilot results and scale outputs to ensure impact across the forest sector

The Current projects, led by SFI Chief Conservation Officer Lauren T. Cooper, will continue to develop and strengthen advancements to climate smart forestry.

SFI CLIMATE SMART FORESTRY IN CANADA

SFI is developing climate smart forestry management practices to directly impact 1 million hectares and further influence 10 million hectares of forestland. These practices aim to optimize both carbon and biodiversity outcomes by leveraging and sharing data, tools, and expertise on forestry, ecological integrity, climate trends, and existing practices. We are identifying barriers like expertise, information access, time, and costs to address challenges large forest decision-makers face (Indigenous, private, public). Stakeholder engagement, including workshops and field visits, will help develop and pilot these practices and evaluate their effectiveness and emissions benefits.

A major portion of funding for this project will directly support First Nation and Indigenous organizations to advance climate smart forestry-related project development and implementation that integrates Traditional Knowledge and values.

Call for Expressions of Interest (EOI) Indigenous-Led Climate Smart Forestry (March 2025)

Learn more about the overall project and read the project news release.

Thanks to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) for supporting this work.

SFI CLIMATE SMART FORESTRY IN THE UNITED STATES

SFI is leading a collaborative effort to develop climate-informed and data-driven forestry practices. The project is identifying and developing Climate Smart Forestry practices to guide forest managers in addressing climate change through adaptive forest management, improving carbon storage and sequestration, and increasing forest resilience. The project aims to bridge the gap between science and practice, considering both ecosystem processes and forest manager decision-making.

The project aims to engage diverse networks and develop climate-informed principles and practices to enhance forest management and build the resilience of forests against challenges like wildfires and pest and disease outbreaks. These improvements will strengthen the ability of forests to not only store and sequester carbon, but to sustain communities and create jobs while conserving biological diversity.

Learn more by reading the news release.

Thanks to the Doris Duke Foundation for supporting this work.