Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation Workshops
In July 2024, the Family Forest Network (FFN), in partnership with Innovative Climate Strategies Inc. (ICS), hosted three regional workshops in Bridgewater, Truro, and Port Hawkesbury as part of a Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment (CCVA) exercise focusing on private woodlot owners in Nova Scotia.
The purpose of these workshops was to better understand how climate change is affecting private woodlands through direct discussions with woodland owners themselves. Findings from these workshops will inform later development of a Forest Resilience and Adaptation Playbook for Nova Scotia woodlot owners.
Workshop Participation
More than 125 woodland owners from across western, central, and eastern Nova Scotia participated. Using the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers framework for conducting CCVAs, discussions focused on:
Observed forest changes and vulnerabilities
Priority areas of concern
Key uncertainties and knowledge gaps
Mapping regional climate risks
This participatory approach ensures that the lived experiences of landowners directly inform future adaptation planning.
Mapping Exercise
As part of the workshops, large maps of the counties represented at each session were placed around the room for participants to write their observations and concerns. The purpose of this exercise was to identify areas of value and climate-related risk at regional scales where woodlots are located.
These observations have been collected and compiled into comprehensive digital maps showing the areas that are most at risk due to climate change (as identified by workshop participants). Users can zoom in and out of these maps to see areas of concern in each region.
Cape Breton
Hants / Halifax Counties
Cumberland / Colchester Counties
Digby / Yarmouth / Shelburne Counties
Annapolis / Kings / Queens / Lunenburg Counties
What Woodlot Owners Are Saying
Several important themes emerged from the CCVA workshops:
Woodlot owners are generally aware of potential climate change impacts on their woodlands and understand that there needs to be changes in management approaches to help mitigate these impacts, but there is currently a lack of consistent, easily understood, and/or accessible resources to help landowners address these needs more proactively.
The potential for increased wind damage (blowdown), fire risk, flood damage to roads, and impacts to various ecosystem services and biodiversity are the primary areas of concern, as well as related decreases in woodlot value and potential for income.
There is also concern over the lack of harvest contractors willing or able to take on non-clear harvesting jobs on smaller woodlots due to a lack of proper equipment and/or experience (i.e., using smaller, low-impact machines to economically conduct partial harvest operations in these smaller woodlots).
Government support is needed to help woodlot owners develop climate impact adaptation options and new and/or improved market options. Establishing an umbrella organization to represent the 30,000 plus private woodlot owners in Nova Scotia may be a way to more effectively communicate and lobby government on their behalf.
Readers are encouraged to view the full summary CCVA workshop report (found here).
Moving Forward
Findings from the CCVCA workshops represent an important step toward proactive climate adaptation in Nova Scotia’s private woodlot sector.
FFN and ICS will use this input to develop a Forest Resilience and Adaptation Playbook - a practical guide outlining strategies, tools, and resources to help private woodlot owners manage climate-related risks while strengthening ecological and economic resilience. The Playbook is expected to be released in late 2026.