Sustainable adaptation to climate change of forest sector management in the province of Soria (LIFE SORIA FORESTADAPT)

The information currently available on the climate vulnerability of the forest sector is mainly based on large time scales (e.g., climate predictions by 2050, 2100) and on a global basis. Therefore, it is very difficult for forest managers to determine the climate vulnerability of a specific forest area and to adjust management plans accordingly in order to improve the resilience of those forests to climate change in the long term. Managers of both public- and privately-owned forests are showing an increasing interest in climate change, due to increases in droughts, forest fires and pest and disease occurrence, and more frequent extreme weather events. These will have a big environmental (forest habitats and species, ecosystem services) and economic (forest productivity) impact. In the Spanish province of Soria, for example, forest management has been ongoing since the Middle Ages, but this management now needs to be modified to make the forests more resilient to climate change.

In this context, the LIFE SORIA FORESTADAPT project aims to increase the resilience of southern European forests to climate change by including adaptive measures in public and private forest management plans. The main objective is to develop a Technical Reference for Management and Forestry with climate change adaptation measures to be taken as a basis for the gradual modification of forest management plans throughout the province of Soria. This region is an example of forest management since the Middle Ages and will work on 200,881 ha of public forests (average of 12,000 ha/year) and on all private lands capable of implementing afforestation programs, especially reforestation of agricultural lands.

It is intended to expand the model to the rest of the Region of Castile and Leon, the rest of Spain and Southern Europe.