Valuing Afforestation of damaged woods with Innovative Agroforestry (LIFE VAIA)

Description:

The LIFE VAIA project focuses on the adaptation of forest areas to extreme meteorological events, the promotion of fast responses to negative effects produced by such events, the acceleration of natural regeneration processes, and the generation of economic benefits to compensate the loss of income from timber exploitation.

Specific objectives are to:

• Consolidate the knowledge base on the use of innovative agroforestry procedures in forest farming, assess the effectiveness of the method and encourage its use in European forests;
• Develop an ecosystem-based innovative approach by implementing temporary/transitional agroforestry until the growth of forest trees. This aims to tackle the negative effects caused to the environment by the destruction of trees (e.g. erosion, mineralisation of organic matter, loss of biodiversity) as well as to accelerate the reconstruction of forest ecosystems. Reforestation is carried out mixing natural and artificial approaches to promote the establishment of stable ecosystems characterised by high biodiversity and ecological value;
• Create opportunities for sustainable economic development aiming to halt depopulation in the affected areas.

The project's actions are pursued in 16 pilot sites (of about 2.5 hectares each) distributed in Italy, Spain and France with a total surface of 615 ha. Species adopted include some chosen based on expected climate in the next 20, 50, 100 years. 

Project information

Lead

Rigoni di Asiago srl

Partners

FAF (Association Française d’Agroforesterie), France 

FEM (Fondazione Edmund Mach), Italy

LFD (LONGARONE FIERE SRL), Italy 

WBA (WBA Project srl), Italy

GALLIO (Comune di Gallio), Italy

VHC (Venetian Cluster srl), Italy 

VENAGR (Agenzia veneta per l’innovazione nel settore primario), Italy 

ASIAGO (Comune di Asiago), Italy

TESAF (Università degli Studi di Padova - DIP. TERRITORIO E SISTEMI AGRO-FORESTALI), Italy

USC (Universidad de Santiago de Compostela), Spain