Climate Change Adaptation in Swedish Forestry Policy A Historical Overview, 1990–2010

This report explores how climate change adaptation concerns were integrated into the Swedish forestry discourse in the period 1990–2010. The paper focused on actors’ beliefs and learning to identify how the forestry discourse evolved, the main adaptation advocates and critics, how other dominant discourses, debates and external events influenced the discourse, the effect this had on forestry policy and the lessons that might be learned for future policymaking. The study shows that academics advocating climate change adaptation, together with outside influences such as political pressure for adaptation responses and the negative effects of storm Gudrun in 2005, contributed to an increased general awareness and understanding of adaptation issues in the forestry sector.