The ASFORCLIC is intended to significantly improve the research excellence of the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology (FFWT) at Mendel University in Brno (MENDELU) and establish it as a European research leader, trendsetter, and scientific hub in the field of climate and global change impacts on Forestry and Wood Applications.
The ASFORCLIC project aims to increase scientific visibility and create new networking possibilities through targeted measures and training. Furthermore, we aim to raise FFWT's competitiveness in national, EU, and international research grant competitions. ASFORCLIC is also set to improve the personnel profiles of FFWT researchers, promote research through mentor-mentee collaboration, and engage stakeholders in a discussion to transfer research findings into industry partnerships. The planned widening actions and the overall project strategies include partner short stays/expert lectures, workshops/training/seminars, summer schools, training at advanced partners and short-term research visits. This project consortium is part of a long-term developed European research and education network.
FFWT MENDELU is joined in ASFORCLIC by seven advanced partners from four other EU nations. The consortium is establishing a forestry site- and wood-industry catena based on regional climate and forest site characteristics, as well as local tree and wood species with distinct material attributes and technological processes or application techniques tailored to individual markets.
Based on the historical and current conditions of the central European forestry sector, it is necessary to transform and maintain forests by modifying forest structure, particularly in the face of changing environmental factors that primarily affect health status and the quantity and quality of wood and other bio-based materials. Furthermore, due to global trade and climate change, new pests and pathogens pose increasingly significant risks to ecosystems such as temperate and boreal forests.
Climate change is expected to cause forest change, resulting in altered and newly formed or managed forest structures (Forest of the Future) and raw materials that must be processed and modified for future applications as products. It will transform our forests, paving the way for the Forest of the Future, the circular economy concept, and the bio-based economy. Politics and decision-makers need to incorporate this into their future strategies. Parallel changes in labour structure, acceptance of forests and landscapes for leisure, natural preservation, freshwater delivery, quality and clean air, and human well-being or health are all necessary answers. In routine bio-cycling or crisis, the biodiversity of trees, plants, and wildlife, including insects and fungi, will differ.
Changes in bio-based material disposal will occur due to these changes in forest production conditions, necessitating adjustments across the value chain and new adaptations of wood processing and application processes, including a whole-system circular economy approach. This will involve transitioning from softwood species to hardwood or mixed stands, increasing utilisation of lesser-used wood species, and rising demand for locally grown wood resources.
