It is widely believed that the effects of increasing greenhouse gas concentrations will lead to global warming as less infrared radiation escapes to space. Our limited understanding of the potential impacts of rising concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide limits our ability to make predictions of the future role of the terrestrial surface in the global carbon cycle and to adapt forest management practices adequately. Trees play an important role in the global carbon balance with respect to their possible carbon sequestration. The knowledge of the processes that govern carbon allocation in trees and other organisms is therefore crucial in assessing the potential impact of climatic change on forest ecosystems.
Forest stand management may be facing increasing uncertainty as a result of the possible future climate change. There are four different management options that might help to cope with climate change. a) The conservation management which controls deforestation and supports the conservation and protection of forests; b) the substitution management which promotes fossil energy and material substitution (non-renewable or energy intensive material substitution); c) the carbon storage management that focuses on increasing the carbon pool in vegetation and soils; and d) the minimised risk management option which uses the existing driving forces of forest succession to reach the management goals, and therefore minimises the stress and consequently maximises the reaction potential of the different ecosystems. It is currently unknown which
climate scenario will come true, and it is therefore essential to preserve biodiversity of the different forest ecosystems to allow for a wide variety of possible developments. The impacts of climate variability on society and ecosystems for the most part do not respect international borders. Thus, transboundary collaboration on coping with such impacts is very important.