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Short abstract:

Assessment of urgency of forest adaptation to climate change differs between groups - for climate activists every day of delay in changing the status quo means a loss, while their actions meet resistance and delay from existing state structures that operate according to institutional knowledge.

Long abstract:

Forests are a particularly important sector in the context of climate change. They are assessed as a resource that can accumulate excess CO2 contributing to climate change mitigation, but on the other hand, they are extremely sensitive to changes in climate conditions and need adaptation to them. The urgency of this adaptation process is however perceived differently depending on social groups. For climate activists, every day of delay in changing the status quo (in terms of emissions mitigation and risk adaptation) means a loss, while their actions meet resistance from existing state structures that operate according to institutional knowledge, slowing down proposals for rapid change. In Poland, the relatively slow adoption of climate change mitigation measures is due to the strong position of the State Forestry Holding, which manages 80% of the forests, and does not consider climate change as an urgent issue. The purpose of this paper is to compare the position of climate activists regarding the urgency of adaptation measures in forests with the institutional knowledge and procedures in which forestry in Poland operates. Methods of collecting material included structured in-depth interviews (n=30) conducted with representatives of various forestry institutions and a review of scientific literature (n=67) on proposals for forest adaptation to climate change. We argue that both climate activists and foresters perceive climate change as an important issue, but at the same time, they differ in their understanding of time perspectives - what is possible to achieve urgently, and what must wait for generational change.