Nature-based solutions to improve adaptation of forests to climate change (LIFE RedBosques_Clima)

The overall objective of the LIFE RedBosques_Clima project is to achieve a greater capacity for adaptation to climate change in forests, promoting forestry with conservation objectives (promoting maturity, increasing heterogeneity and diversity) under the umbrella of ecosystem-based adaptation.

In particular, the project aims to firstly design tools to assess the vulnerability of forests to climate change, and to ensure the quality and effectiveness of adaptation measures. These tools are applied to three pilot cases representative of the most frequent conservation status in Spanish forests.

The three pilot cases consist in the following:

• Development of forest planning to generate a mosaic forest landscape and implementation of several demonstrative measures, in a participatory way with all forest owners in the Parc Natural dels Ports (Tarragona);
• Improvement of adaptive capacity in reforestation in the Valencian Community (Castellón, Valencia and Alicante), including the increase of structural heterogeneity and habitat diversification in several pine forests highly vulnerable to climate change;
• Forest restoration for adaptation to climate change in the Sierra Norte Natural Park (Guadalajara), recovering several Habitats of Community Interest.

Finally, the project promotes the implementation of the management model proposed by the main actors involved in forest management, so that the adaptation measures can be replicated throughout the territory.