Resilience to Climate change in Mediterranean forests (LIFE RESILFORMED)

The project aim was to preserve forest ecosystems in the face of the risks related to climate changes, by promoting naturalisation processes and biodiversity increase, and by improving the resilience of ecosystems to environmental stress. The specific objective of the project was to implement a regional forest policy to increase the resilience of Sicilian forests and favour biodiversity conservation. To this end, the project produced regional maps identifying the areas of Sicily most at risk from climate change and defined, through indicators, the role of communities and ecosystems in adapting to climate change. Results helped in identifying the Sicilian forests more vulnerable to the desertification where to apply forest managing techniques to increase their resilience. The project also developed forest management models grouped into five Best Management Practices (BMP) considered important for the improvement or reinforcement of the Mediterranean forests resilience to changes. Finally, Guidelines For Assessing The Resilience Of Mediterranean Forests To Climate Change have been produced and are available here.