Adaptive Policy Analysis of Forestry and Wetlands Policies in Manitoba

The report applies the ADAPTool to evaluate three existing forestry policies and provide design recommendations for a new wetlands policy in Manitoba. The forestry analysis found that while policies generally support autonomous adaptability and are sufficiently decentralized, there are gaps in supporting planned adaptation for fire and extreme weather. The wetlands analysis, acting as a pilot for new policy design, identified key vulnerabilities to climate change and land-use competition, suggesting the inclusion of a multistakeholder wetland council and a diverse mix of policy instruments to enhance resilience.

• The analysis of three forestry policies—the Timber Quota Allocation Policy, Forest Renewal Program, and Wood Supply Process—indicates that they generally possess high autonomous adaptability, meaning they are flexible and responsive to unanticipated events.
• The Timber Quota Allocation Policy was identified as the most adaptive of the forestry suite, scoring highest in both planned and autonomous adaptability categories.
• Significant gaps exist in the forestry sector's planned adaptability, with 20 out of 86 identified adaptation actions completely unsupported by the analyzed policies, particularly those concerning fire and extreme weather.
• Forestry policies show a disparity between design and implementation, with multistakeholder deliberation being more limited during the design phase than during the implementation phase.
• For the developing wetlands policy, the analysis identified two primary stressors: climate change and land-use competition and conversion.
• The wetlands policy analysis found that the environment sector is the primary beneficiary, with a high percentage of applicable adaptation actions for both climate and land-use stressors being either directly or indirectly supported.
• To enhance the adaptive capacity of the new wetlands policy, the report recommends establishing a multistakeholder wetland council and utilizing a diverse mix of economic, regulatory, institutional, and expenditure instruments.
• The pilot application of the ADAPTool for new policies (wetlands) was found to be only mildly useful because the policy had already been in development for several years with existing background papers.

APA

International Institute for Sustainable Development (2013). Adaptive Policy Analysis of Forestry and Wetlands Policies in Manitoba. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/adaptool_manitoba_forestry.pdf

Chicago

International Institute for Sustainable Development. Adaptive Policy Analysis of Forestry and Wetlands Policies in Manitoba. 2013. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/adaptool_manitoba_forestry.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=International Institute for Sustainable Development |title=Adaptive Policy Analysis of Forestry and Wetlands Policies in Manitoba |date=2013 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/adaptool_manitoba_forestry.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{internationalinstituteforsustainabledevelopment2013adaptive, author = {{International Institute for Sustainable Development}}, title = {{Adaptive Policy Analysis of Forestry and Wetlands Policies in Manitoba}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2013}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/adaptool_manitoba_forestry.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }