Resilient forests for society
Climate change affects Europe’s forest ecosystems as well as the industries and communities that rely on them. Extreme weather events, prolonged droughts, forest fires and pest outbreaks are threatening not only trees but also the forest-based value chains and livelihoods built around them.
Assessment of forest resilience
With disturbance events becoming more frequent and severe, forests lose their resilience and capacity for natural recovery. This clearly calls for forward-thinking and proactive forest management approaches. In response to these challenges, the EU-funded RESONATE(opens in new window) project provided vital knowledge and actionable strategies to help Europe’s forests and their value chains effectively withstand future threats. The project involved 20 partners across Europe and applied diverse scientific methods to investigate how the adaptive capacity of forests resilience can be assessed, managed and enhanced. Partners developed the operational resilience framework(opens in new window) (ORF), a tool designed to evaluate forest system resilience across ecological, industrial and societal dimensions. “The ORF distinguishes between variables such as climate or topography, and predictors like species diversity that can be managed,” explains project coordinator Marcus Lindner.
Mapping Europe’s disturbance hotspots
To better understand where resilience is most urgently needed, RESONATE created detailed maps of disturbance hotspots across Europe. Using remote sensing data, the project found that both planned and unplanned forest disturbances have significantly increased since the 1980s(opens in new window). “We showed that these disturbances were not random, with areas with high logging activity experiencing more severe natural disturbances. This indicated that there is an interaction between land use and climate vulnerability,” highlights Lindner. Climate change-induced disturbance events such as wildfires could double by the end of the century especially in Mediterranean and temperate forests. This signals an urgent need for adaptation measures to reduce risks and restore more resilient ecosystems.
Enhancing forest resilience through biodiversity
RESONATE examined forest resilience across nine European case studies. Using forest simulation models, partners assessed disturbance recovery under different management regimes and identified that tree species diversity is central to forest resilience, for example to increase resilience to wind(opens in new window). The importance of mixed-species forests and structural diversity(opens in new window) was emphasised in the project’s recommendations to policymakers. These also support the use of natural regeneration to enhance biodiversity and highlight the need for protecting young trees including oak from deer. To further improve forest resistance to drought, RESONATE suggested certain adaptive techniques such as thinning, shorter rotation periods and the introduction of climate-resilient species. Allowing forests to self-regenerate was found to be insufficient on its own, especially given the pace of climate change.
Forest value chains and social-ecological resilience
“RESONATE went a step further to extend the resilience concept to forest-based value chains,” states Lindner. Local forest owners especially those with limited access to infrastructure face challenges after disturbance events. The wood industry struggles with supply fluctuations necessitating alternative solutions such as partnerships across the value chain and mechanisms that ensure risk sharing. Moreover, investment into improved transport and storage infrastructure as well as more flexible processing technologies are needed. “When it comes to forest resilience, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Coordinated action is needed to make forests, and the value chains that depend on them, more resilient,” concludes Lindner.
