Adapting to climate change in European forests – results of the MOTIVE project

Description

In Europe, the forest resource which covers 38% of total land area in EU-27 countries must form part of any holistic adaptation strategy. Forests not only provide wood products but also a range of ecosystem goods and services such as water catchment protection, biodiversity, erosion protection, recreation and tourism. Climate change impacts on forests are already noticeable with increases in productivity in some areas, and increased mortality or changes in species distributions at other locations. Natural disturbance regimes are also changing with significant implications for forest dynamics. This booklet provides an overview of major research activities and achievements of MOTIVE, FP7 project. It represents the state of the art in science-based information on adaptation of European forests to climate change. Topics covered include: information on climate change projections for Europe with emphasis on implications for forest management; shifts in potential tree species ranges based on climate projections; genetic adaptation of tree species to climate change; mapping of disturbance risks to European forests with focus on wind, fire and bark beetles; decision support tools for adaptive forest management; and the MOTIVE toolbox which aims to allow users to select adaptive management actions and optimize management plans. The types of decision making approaches and their implications for adapting forest management to climate change are also discussed. A special section describing the ten case study forests is included. Each of the case studies have contrasting environments for forest management, ranging from Finland and Sweden in the North to Spain and Portugal in the South, from Wales in the West to Bulgaria and Romania in the East. A wide range of forest types, management regimes and climates are covered.

Reference information