Recurrent droughts in southwest Germany threaten the city and community-owned forests (CCF). At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the demand for recreation in CCF of southwest Germany. We interviewed stakeholders from different interest groups to critically analyze their opinion on how the high recreation demand on CCF due to the pandemic can be ensured along with implementing climate change adaptation measures in CCF in Karlsruhe, Germany. We found that stakeholders particularly highlighted the importance of the recreational function of the CCF during the pandemic. However, the behavior of visitors was criticized by the stakeholders. We showed that demand for the recreational use of CCF conflicted with climate change adaptation measures such as sanitary and forest restoration actions, creating a dilemma among stakeholders. Therefore, enhancing citizens’ knowledge of forests’ recreation functions and the need for climate change adaptation through communication and education should be prioritized.

Increasing urbanization, climate change, and plant disease pose accumulative threats to city and community-owned forests (CCF). This requires the forest to adapt to new climatic conditions to continuously provide essential recreational functions for the urban population in the future. The COVID-19 pandemic increased the demand for CCF as a place to meet, play sports, and relax. However, our knowledge of challenges in combining climate change adaptation and the increased number of visits and demand for recreation in CCF management is yet limited. In this study, we, for the first time, interviewed 16 stakeholders from different backgrounds about their opinions on climate change adaptation (CCA) of CCF, its importance as a recreational space, and conflicts between the two fields of action that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is expected that comparing perspectives from different stakeholder groups can lead to improved reflection and strengthen the sustainable management of the CCF through knowledge-based and participative decision-making. Using semi-structured interviews and qualitative data analytics with MAXQDA software, we found that stakeholders particularly highlighted the importance of the recreational function of the CCF during the pandemic. At the same time, the behavior of visitors was criticized. We identified that functional conflicts between the need for relaxation and essential functions for CCA of the CCF have increased during the pandemic. These include other biodiversity and protective functions. The interviewees, therefore, suggested enhancing the local population's communication and education. Further, the possibility of increased visitor guidance has been discussed. It has been identified that more research and location-adjusted planning are needed to evaluate the use of non-native species for the urban forest’s climate change adaptation.