Project description DEENESFRITPL Increasing forest resilience to global changes Forests are essential in reducing global warming and sustaining biodiversity. Therefore, EU policies aim to increase forest resilience by applying sustainable management practices. However, forests are subject to dramatic changes (e.g. natural disturbance regimes, land use and climate change) which impede forest management planning. The EU-funded REINFORCE project will develop multi-scale and integrated forest management strategies to improve resilience to changes in European mountain areas by studying several regions in the Alps. The project will use an innovative method combining dynamic landscape modelling, functional diversity and network analysis to identify the most efficient interventions in mountain landscapes to increase forest resilience. Lastly, the project will contribute to filling the gap between science and local decision-makers by incorporating the stakeholder community in building effective forest landscape management plans. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective Forests are key components of modern landscapes, providing essential ecosystem services to humans and sustaining biodiversity. As they mitigate global warming, forest ecosystems are essential elements for meeting the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement and an increase of their future resilience through sustainable management practices is one of the main priorities of the EU policy. Forests are projected to undergo dramatic compositional and structural shifts prompted by global changes, such as intensifying natural disturbance regimes, land use and climate change. This uncertainty makes planning for forest management exceptionally difficult. To date, studies have mainly focused on adapting forest management to climate warming but new interdisciplinary approaches for understanding and implementing tailored adaptation actions are needed to increase forest resilience to a large set of uncertainties. The overall aim of REINFORCE is to develop multi-scale and integrated forest management strategies to enhance resilience to global changes in European mountain forest landscapes. The project will consist in assessing future forest landscape dynamics in multiple case study regions in the Alps using advanced simulation modelling tools, followed by developing resilience-based forest management plans. This will be accomplished with a novel and innovative approach combining dynamic landscape modelling, functional diversity and network analysis. This approach allows to determine where to intervene more efficiently in stands within the landscape to maximize the resilience of the forests to sudden disturbances and climate change. Mixing multiple expertise and methods, REINFORCE will ultimately contribute in filling the gap between science and local decision-makers by incorporating stakeholder community in building effective and integrated forested landscape management to cope with climate and global changes. Fields of science agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesforestrysilviculturenatural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystemsnatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changessocial scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and management Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility Topic(s) MSCA-IF-2019 - Individual Fellowships Call for proposal H2020-MSCA-IF-2019 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MSCA-IF-EF-RI - RI – Reintegration panel Coordinator ACCADEMIA EUROPEA DI BOLZANO Net EU contribution € 183 473,28 Address Viale druso 1 39100 Bolzano Italy See on map Region Nord-Est Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano/Bozen Bolzano-Bozen Activity type Research Organisations Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00