Synergies and trade-offs between climate change mitigation and adaptation in landscape management

Mitigation is crucial for limiting the extent of climate change and thus the severity of its impacts on society. Yet even with strong mitigation efforts, the climate will continue to change. Therefore, we must be prepared to adapt to these changes?to adjust human and natural systems so that communities are more resilient and can cope with the harmful effects of climate change and variability. Ecosystems can help societies to adapt to both current climate hazards and future climate change because of the wide range of ecosystem services that they provide, for example the protection against floods in watersheds or against storms in coastal areas. Ecosystems also contribute to climate change mitigation through the ecosystem service of carbon sequestration. As ecosystems and landscape management are important for both mitigation and adaptation, it makes sense to analyze the linkages between these strategies and identify opportunities to enhance the outcomes of both. In particular, it would be highly beneficial to use mitigation mechanisms such as REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) to support measures that help increase the resilience of forests and communities. However, mitigation efforts can have adverse effects on adaptation and the resilience of ecosystems and people, for example when monospecific plantations for carbon sequestration reduce biodiversity and when forest carbon conservation projects restrict diversification opportunities for local livelihoods. This session aims at analyzing the synergies and trade-offs between adaptation and mitigation in landscape management, using different perspectives. Ecological perspectives will discuss the synergies and trade-offs between carbon and the ecosystem services that are important for social and ecological resilience. Case studies of landscape management will help analyzing the adaptation and mitigation benefits delivered to different beneficiaries at different temporal and spatial scales. We will also analyze how the diverse stakeholders involved in landscape management and climate change strategies have different interests in either adaptation or mitigation. Analyses of national or international policies will allow discussing how institutions can facilitate the synergies between adaptation and mitigation and reduce the adverse effects of one strategy to the outcomes of the other. (Texte integral)