Introduction

Abstract

The recent rates of climate changes are unprecedented given past climate change evidence. Variations in gas concentrations within the Earth’s atmosphereAtmospherecause changes in the climate, and these atmospheric gases are impacted by human activities as well as by natural disturbancesDisturbances. Since human activities alter atmospheric gases concentrations, there is a perception that humans must alter land useLand useland use changespractices to reduce the rates of climate changes and alleviate any resulting negative social, economic, and environmental impacts. In this book global change and forestry activities interaction are addressed by four different point of views including a general overview of the problem and the capacity of forests to cope with climate change, a description of the role of monitoring and modeling approaches to estimate carbon stocks and stock changes the climate change impacts on forest health and a presentation of several approaches to economic analysis of different management scenarios. Finnally, a range of case studies on climate change impacts and mitigation activities in different ecosystems across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas is presented.