Abstract
There have been widespread climate induced impacts in natural and plantation forests both within Australia and overseas, and modelling suggests a markedly different future climate. New thinking and approaches to forest management may be required. In Australia there are over 149 million ha of forests; in the approx. 8 million ha of managed natural and planted forests foresters have always dealt with climate-induced uncertainty. These past experiences may help to deal with future conditions although the limit to which this will be constrained by finance and public opinion is unknown. This paper will examine how forests respond to climate, past climate change impacts in forests, the management responses to those events, the role of climate change mitigation (reforestation, forest management, bioenergy) and then explore how this aids the development of future climate change adaptation strategies.