Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Precilience (Precision climate resilience for agriculture and forestry sectors in the European boreal regions)
Berichtszeitraum: 2024-05-01 bis 2025-10-31
The Boreal regions face numerous challenges for climate resilience in agriculture and forestry. Solutions are sought for actions related to (i) water management, (ii) production diversification, (iii) soil health and productivity, (iv) forest regeneration and management methods in changing conditions. The most effective measures are location-specific. In the spirit of precision agriculture, we aim to support precision resilience, targeting tailored actions to achieve the most concrete impacts for the region-specific challenges. Focusing on eleven regions in five Nordic countries (DK, EE, FI, NO, SE), Precilience will demonstrate a set of holistic solutions ranging from regional risk identification to choosing and implementing the best locally adapted solutions. These will be readily applicable in replicating regions. Optimal targeting of climate resilience actions will support efficient decision making. We will also provide practical knowledge on the implementation of those solutions. This contributes to the Mission’s overall objective to “support at least 150 European regions and communities in becoming climate resilient by 2030.".
Precilience follows co-creational processes described in the Mission’s DIY manual for mobilizing and engaging stakeholders, to ensure maximum uptake of the demonstrated solutions. We focus on the implementation and evaluation of climate adaptation actions (steps 5 and 6 of Adaptation planning cycle). We also support the first 4 steps (prepare ground, assess risks, identify options, assess options) in specific tasks. This maximises the effectiveness of the solutions, as they are targeted at the most impactful points of action (Precision Resilience). The project plan was prepared in open discussion with regional authorities and stakeholders, who helped choose the demonstration regions and potential solutions. Scientific experts proposed a preliminary set of nature-based solutions with proven effects, which has been refined in co-operation between consortium partners and stakeholders.
Our project objectives are in short
- Regional authorities and stakeholders have integrated available climate scenarios and risk evaluations into planning of climate resilience solutions.
- Regions are using the best climate resilience solutions in their climate adaptation strategies.
- Transformative solutions for climate resilience are implemented in practice in 11 regions.
- Nordic regions are in active communication and collaboration on climate resilience topics. Experience and know-how on planning and implementation of climate resilience solutions is shared.
- Regions’ and communities’ capability for independent and continued climate resilience work is supported. E.g. They are better equipped to find funding, provide targeted education, spread information about the solutions to farmers, forest owners, businesses and citizens.
Precilience follows co-creational processes described in the Mission’s DIY manual for mobilizing and engaging stakeholders, to ensure maximum uptake of the demonstrated solutions. We focus on the implementation and evaluation of climate adaptation actions (steps 5 and 6 of Adaptation planning cycle). We also support the first 4 steps (prepare ground, assess risks, identify options, assess options) in specific tasks. This maximises the effectiveness of the solutions, as they are targeted at the most impactful points of action (Precision Resilience). The project plan was prepared in open discussion with regional authorities and stakeholders, who helped choose the demonstration regions and potential solutions. Scientific experts proposed a preliminary set of nature-based solutions with proven effects, which has been refined in co-operation between consortium partners and stakeholders.
Our project objectives are in short
- Regional authorities and stakeholders have integrated available climate scenarios and risk evaluations into planning of climate resilience solutions.
- Regions are using the best climate resilience solutions in their climate adaptation strategies.
- Transformative solutions for climate resilience are implemented in practice in 11 regions.
- Nordic regions are in active communication and collaboration on climate resilience topics. Experience and know-how on planning and implementation of climate resilience solutions is shared.
- Regions’ and communities’ capability for independent and continued climate resilience work is supported. E.g. They are better equipped to find funding, provide targeted education, spread information about the solutions to farmers, forest owners, businesses and citizens.
We have set up demonstrations of climate resilience solutions and climate risks over 40 individual sites in agriculture and 200 forest sites across the 11 regions in five countries. We are demonstrating climate resilience solutions via crop management (cover crops, crop rotation, crop diversification), water management (control drainage, irrigation, ponds/reservoirs, swales and berms), soil management (tillage, soil improvers), forest management methods, forest regeneration, land slides, and climate proof seedling materials. These demonstrations are tailored regionally in collaboration with relevant stakeholders to match needs and possibilities of the region. The demonstrations provide concrete examples of how climate resilience solutions are implemented in the regions conditions and how they can be best utilized for different purposes. This supports independent climate resilience work of the local stakeholders beyond the project scope and duration.
Besides, and in support of, the practical demonstrations, we have performed various activities preparing ground for transformative and systemic change. We have started preparing regional climate scenarios and risk modelling. This will be coupled with hands-on experience from local stakeholders. We have interviewed over 120 stakeholders in the 11 regions and over 200 people participated in the 11 regional workshops where climate risks, opportunities, and adaptation were discussed. Results of the interviews and workshops will be used for guiding adaptation planning in regional contexts. We have also analysed the operational environment of each country, identified key stakeholder groups, and set up national stakeholder steering groups that will be first informed about project progress and will provide feedback on both direction and quality of the activities. The stakeholders covering not only direct primary producers but higher-level organizations and key actors of value chains and finance/insurance play a key role in enabling and advancing climate adaptation actions.
Besides, and in support of, the practical demonstrations, we have performed various activities preparing ground for transformative and systemic change. We have started preparing regional climate scenarios and risk modelling. This will be coupled with hands-on experience from local stakeholders. We have interviewed over 120 stakeholders in the 11 regions and over 200 people participated in the 11 regional workshops where climate risks, opportunities, and adaptation were discussed. Results of the interviews and workshops will be used for guiding adaptation planning in regional contexts. We have also analysed the operational environment of each country, identified key stakeholder groups, and set up national stakeholder steering groups that will be first informed about project progress and will provide feedback on both direction and quality of the activities. The stakeholders covering not only direct primary producers but higher-level organizations and key actors of value chains and finance/insurance play a key role in enabling and advancing climate adaptation actions.
Precilience is an integrating project that brings together all steps of the Climate Mission implementation plan, while focusing on demonstrations. While there are serious challenges present in both agriculture and forestry, there is also under-utilised potential for multiple natural solutions to the issues. Precilience will provide the target regional authorities and communities with easy access to the available climate adaptation resources and support their integration in work for planning and implementation of climate resilience solutions. We will use (i) climate scenarios to understand what risks are present, (ii) geographic data to understand where those risks are most prominent at local scale, (iii) knowledge on biotic and abiotic damages to understand how the risks are realised, (iv) analysis of production types to recognise the most vulnerable fields and forests, and (v) practical knowledge combining economic and social aspects to choose the most feasible impactful solutions. Facilitating adoption of these solutions will contribute to rapid systemic transformation and advance the state of the art in forestry and agriculture climate resilience and ensure more sustainable primary production in the future. The demonstrated solutions have been successfully applied at least in small scale. However, they are not widely used in practice, in the focal regions, or for the purposes intended here. Hence, the main avenue for advancing the state of the art is improving accessibility of best practises through availability of both technologies and knowledge, and importantly, collecting a comprehensive set of guidelines for climate resilience tailored to the regional needs.