Wild Europe with consortium wins large EU Horizon project for forest ecosystem support

A large EU funded initiative for safeguarding carbon and biodiversity rich forests is to be undertaken by a group of eighteen organisations led by the University of Oulu in Finland.

Wild Europe Foundation played a key role coordinating the preparatory stages and selecting the locations for in-depth study. Over the next four years our contribution will focus mainly on formulating and communicating policy recommendations as well as identifying socio-economic benefits of ecosystem services. These will be linked to relevant legal contexts across a range of forest types and management practices.

These recommendations will be aligned with key definitional issues relating to old growth forest, strict protection with its link to non-intervention practice, and close-to-nature (CTN) forestry.

Climate change and biodiversity linkage

Current canopy cover – contrast temperature, humidity & airflow with
managed forest or open habitat, Frans Schepers

The FORbEST project will review the interlinked nature of climate change and biodiversity. Climate change is a key cause as well as a consequence of biodiversity loss, but there are many reasons behind the dramatic increase in extinction rates observed over the last century, estimated to be higher than 100 times the background rate. 

Direct exploitation, land use change, pollution and invasive species are all recognized drivers. There is uncertainty around which have the highest impact, and how forest biodiversity loss interacts with climate change – for which all key facets and drivers also require clearer understanding.

FORbEST aims to improve our understanding of the role of these drivers. It will establish case studies in a representative range of forest types, particularly those of high ecological value, from five biogeographical regions in Europe (Alpine, Boreal, Continental, Mediterranean, Pannonian) and one tropical mangrove community forest in Southeast Asia. 

The study will use models to better identify and predict future trends in forest biodiversity loss, taking account of ongoing climate change, assessing risks to both protected and commercially logged areas and designing protection and restoration strategies to counter these. 

Old growth forest – high carbon stocks, enduring sequestration, intact ecosystem, ecotourism potential. Daniel Vallauri

Effective forest monitoring is essential to ensure appropriate management

Will climate change drive the spruce from lowland Central Europe? Bernhard Kohler

Effective monitoring is essential for achievement of all EU Biodiversity and Forestry Strategy goals. Hence the vital importance of a comprehensive Forest Monitoring Law.

Techniques, including remote sensing and field-data collection, will be assessed and improved by FORbEST and suggestions made for their improvement. The JRC (Joint Research Committee of the EC) will provide support with satellite checking of forest metrics and tree species distribution. 

FORbEST will also make recommendations to help identify, measure and maximize provision of ecosystem services, delivering Nature Based Solutions while accounting for the socio-economic context and uncertainties from different scenarios of climate change. This could also generate income for management, protection and restoration of forests.

Existing evidence on the impact of different forest management practices will be analysed to evaluate the opportunities and challenges associated with biodiversity conservation and address of climate change at landscape scale, where the potential for creating more resilient micro-climates will be addressed. Synergies and trade-offs will also be assessed.

New evidence will be produced on the outlook for biodiversity in protected areas, identifying restoration priorities and bottlenecks to improve opportunity for species migration particularly in human-dominated landscapes with more fragmented habitat, and offer policy and management practice recommendations. 

Integrated Carbon Observation System. What interactions between temperature & rainfall changes and carbon uptake & storage?

The outcomes of FORbEST

FORbEST will involve a multi-disciplinary approach combining ecological, economic, legal, social science and environmental perspectives, grounded in Living Labs and using methodology co-designed by stakeholders, policy-makers and scientists. 

Site level benefits achievable could include improved understanding and capacity for climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity conservation, carefully modulated economic development and citizen empowerment across multiple spatial scales. 

Results of the initiative will be made available for forest managers, conservation organisations, research institutes and policy makers at regional, national and EU-level.

Mycorrhizal networks at the base of complex, intact forest ecosystems (here showing mycelium)
The feral few – at the top of their ecosystem [wolf, bear, lynx, Eurasian eagle owl]