Washington, D.C.— The Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI) announces the release of the SFI Regional Climate Change Risk Summaries. Available United States summaries include the Northeast and Lake States, Northwest, and the Southeast regions. The new science-based resources are designed to support the identification and prioritization of climate risks to forests in the United States. These summaries have been developed as part of the SFI Climate Smart Forestry Initiative in collaboration with the Michigan State University Forest Carbon and Climate Program and with support from the Doris Duke Foundation.
The SFI Forest Management Standard requires assessing climate-driven forest vulnerability and taking steps to address risk. These summaries will advance the interpretation and implementation of Climate Smart Forestry across the SFI footprint by supporting COs in meeting these requirements.
“I am proud of the SFI Regional Climate Change Risk Summaries – a collaborative effort to translate complex climate science into actionable information that forest managers can use to inform on the ground management decisions,” said Lauren T. Cooper, Chief Conservation Officer at SFI.
“By grounding climate risk assessments in North American-specific data and forest-specific vulnerabilities, SFI is supporting certified organizations as they take proactive, science-based steps to strengthen forest resilience, protect biodiversity, and sustain the many benefits forests provide,” said Greg Cooper, Director of Conservation Implementation at SFI.
Climate impacts are intensifying and increasingly interacting, creating compounding challenges for forest health and productivity. The SFI Regional Climate Change Risk Summaries provide a practical, region-specific foundation for climate risk assessment and adaptation planning using best available scientific information based on observed and projected climate trends. The reports directly support the SFI 2022 Forest Management Standard, specifically Performance Measure 9.1, which requires certified organizations to identify and prioritize climate change risks and develop adaptation strategies informed by science.
SFI is equipping certified organizations with an actionable framework to help organizations evaluate and inform management decisions that lower vulnerability to climate impacts by providing a structured approach for identifying and prioritizing climate risks. The first set of SFI Regional Climate Change Risk Summaries are now available to SFI-certified organizations and the broader forest and conservation community as a resource to support informed decision-making in a changing environment.
Learn more here: forests.org/climate-smart-forestry
ABOUT SFI
The Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI) advances sustainability through forest-focused collaborations. We are an independent, nonprofit organization that leverages four interconnected pillars of work: standards, conservation, community, and education. SFI works with the forest sector, conservation groups, academics, researchers, brand owners, resource professionals, landowners, educators, local communities, Indigenous Peoples, and governments. Collaborating with our network, we leverage SFI-certified forests and products as powerful tools to help solve sustainability challenges such as climate action, conservation of biodiversity, education of future generations, and sustainable economic development.
MEDIA CONTACT
Christine Leduc
SFI VP, Canadian Operations & Communications and President, PLT Canada
Sustainable Forestry Initiative
613-706-1114
media@forests.org
