Descrizione del progetto
Le foreste assumono un ruolo di primo piano nella lotta ai cambiamenti climatici
I cambiamenti climatici hanno spinto i paesi e le organizzazioni di tutto il mondo a cercare nuove soluzioni che possano contribuire a mitigarne o prevenirne gli effetti. Se da un lato le foreste risentono dei cambiamenti climatici, dall’altro sono essenziali per ridurre le emissioni, in quanto sono importanti serbatoi di carbonio: infatti, sequestrano il carbonio catturando la CO2 dall’atmosfera e trasformandola in biomassa. Tuttavia, questo processo è costantemente minacciato dall’aumento dei disastri naturali, oggi più frequenti a causa dei cambiamenti climatici e della mancanza di conoscenze sugli scambi biogeochimici e biofisici tra terra e atmosfera. Il progetto INFORMA, finanziato dall’UE, aumenterà la nostra comprensione delle possibili modalità di gestione e salvaguardia delle foreste preservandone, al contempo, la biodiversità e le risorse.
Obiettivo
Forests represent the largest terrestrial carbon sink that can be economically managed to combat climate change. In this context, sustainable forest management will become a major tool of the EU Green Deal on the road to an economic growth decoupled from resource use. But essential forest functions are increasingly threatened by climate change and related natural disturbances, while the knowledge regarding the effects of forest management on biophysical and biogeochemical fluxes exchanged between land and atmosphere are too limited.
Accordingly, the overall objective of the INFORMA project is to increase the science-based knowledge on multi-purpose sustainable forest management under climate change. More particularly, it will analyse the trade-offs and synergies between different objectives considering the environmental integrity and climate feedbacks, social acceptability and economic feasibility of future European forest practices, including zero management options. It will identify options for maintaining carbon sinks, in addition to fostering productivity, supporting genetic diversity, biodiversity conservation, and maintaining soil and water resources in the different European ecoregions.
Applying a multi-actor approach, INFORMA will 1) Quantify differences in major ecosystem functions affecting climate processes between managed and unmanaged forests across Europe; 2) Analyse socio-institutional patterns of innovative forest-based mitigation and adaptation strategies; 3) Search for management alternatives (including no-management) and simulate their effect on a variety of ecosystem functions; and 4) Improve forest carbon certification for a cost-effective operationalisation and integration of climate smart practices in forestry.
INFORMA main outputs will be best regional management practices, implementation pathways for the European forestry sector, recommendations for forest carbon certification improvements and for economic-institutional policy action.
Campo scientifico
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental scienceshydrology
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesforestrysilviculture
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiodiversity conservation
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinatore
46022 Valencia
Spagna