This paper reviews the concepts of ecosystem resilience, resistance, and stability in forests and their relationship to biodiversity, with particular reference to climate change. The report is a direct response to a request by the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD, in decision IX/5, to explore the links between biodiversity, forest ecosystem resilience, and climate change. Forests are emphasized because they are major reservoirs of terrestrial biodiversity and contain
about 50% of the global terrestrial biomass carbon stocks. Emissions from deforestation and degradation remain a significant
(ca. 18-20%) source of annual greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, and therefore the conservation, appropriate management and restoration of forests will make a significant contribution to climate change mitigation. Further, forests
have a certain natural capacity to adapt to climate change because of their biodiversity.