Climate change is expected to trigger more frequent and more fierce storms, floods, landslides, forest fires, temperature extremes and droughts, and will affect mostly the developing countries and poor populations who live and work in floodplains, mountainsides and deltas. When disaster strikes, they lose their homes, crops and livelihoods which makes them the most vulnerable part of society. Healthy, diverse forests and adaptive institutions to manage them can ensure that landscapes and the people who depend on them for their livelihoods are less vulnerable to fluctuations in rainfall and temperatures and to evolve and thrive in a new climate. CIFOR has designed a five-year initiative that links policy analysis, vulnerability assessment, adaptation planning, research support to local initiatives, and knowledge dissemination to contribute to the inclusion of forests in adaptation policies and plans in order to research and act on reducing the climate change-related risks through improved forest management, and to exploit the synergies between forest-based adaptation and mitigation strategies.