European forests – Resilience Blog

A unique database providing information to quantify the adaptive capacity of beech to climate change

by Gesche SchifferdeckerOctober 2, 2018October 4, 2018 1 Comment

A contribution by Marta Benito & Thomas Matthew Robson

A group of researchers from all over Europe worked together to release a unique database to the scientific community. Assembling data collected under the auspices of an EU Cost Action, the database BeechCOSTe52 gathers over 860,000 measurements of phenotypic traits. These data, from more than 500,000 beech trees growing in plantations located in 38 European countries, cover the entire range of beech’s distribution. Over 15 years of work have gone into producing the database; a vital resource for analyzing and understanding the beech’s adaptive capacity to climate change and the potential effects of climate on its distribution range.

Bark beetle outbreaks and the future of European forests

by Agata KonczalJune 29, 2018July 12, 2018 1 Comment

Discussing solutions and searching for more resilience forests

How are different European countries dealing with bark beetle outbreaks and which role do questions like sanitary cutting, monitoring systems, forest ownership, windstorms and expectations towards nature conservation play? What are the challenges regarding climate change? How do the social perception of active and inactive forest management impact forester’s activities in local forests? Which tools should be used to cope with natural disturbances and how we can educate foresters, policy makers, and other relevant stakeholders? Following the invitation of the Polish Ministry of Environment and the Polish State Forests, we discussed these and more issues in the Białowieża Forest during a working seminar of the European Network INTEGRATE from 25-27 June 2018.

Primary forests in Europe, seriously?

by Marcus LindnerMay 28, 2018May 28, 2018 Leave a comment

“Where are Europe’s last primary forests?” asks a study, recently published in the journal Diversity & Distributions, and answered it with the most comprehensive compilation of knowledge to date.

Primary forest, old growth forest, primeval forest, virgin forest – different terms are used to describe forests without (or with very limited) human influence. Primary forests refers to naturally regenerated forests of native species where there are no clearly visible indications of human activities and the ecological processes are not significantly disturbed.

by Alexander HeldMay 15, 2018May 28, 2018 Leave a comment

The World Bank contacted the European Forest Risk Facility to provide experts for an assessment mission to Georgia to consult with the World Bank on possible areas for activities and cooperation.

Between 1 and 9 May 2018, we had the opportunity to travel across the forest landscape of Georgia (Overview of Forests and Forest Sector of Georgia). We assessed the current forest risks and overall forestry situation to identify gaps and challenges for the forestry sector. Based on our experiences we will formulate a report on our findings with recommendations for action. These are then available for the active International Organisations in Georgia.

Increasingly, Georgia’s forests are affected by natural disturbances like fire, wind, pest and disease. Changing climate in combination with land-use, illegal logging and overall high levels of poverty in the rural areas are the driving forces.

European forests at risk: new challenges and possible solutions

by Johanna StrieckFebruary 27, 2018June 28, 2018 Leave a comment

by Johanna Strieck & Laura Nikinmaa

The cold Czech winter offered a warm welcome when the participants of the kick-off event of the project “Sustaining and Enhancing the REsilience of European Forest” (SURE) started in Písek, Czech Republic, on 18^th of February. More than 50 scientists, practitioners and policy makers from 19 different European countries gathered to exchange experiences with forests risks and related disturbances. Hosted by Pro Silva Bohemica and European Forest Institute, the event was the kick-off for the collaboration towards a European Forest Risk Facility.

Be sure to check out the new SURE project website

by Laura NikinmaaFebruary 15, 2018February 15, 2018 Leave a comment

The website for the project “SUstaining and Enhancing REsilience of European Forests” – or briefly SURE – is launched. It provides all the important information on the project, upcoming events, as well as material on the RISKplatform, a virtual communication tool for the European Forest Risk community.

If you are interested in experiences from both practice and science on how to best cope with risk and respond to disturbances, if you want to learn about developing and improving response strategies in policymaking and practical management be sure to check out the new website!

Coordinated by European Forest Institute’s Bonn Office and funded by the German Federal Ministry for Food and Agriculture, SURE is aiming at enhancing forest resilience and addressing disturbance related risks as an integral part of sustainable forest management through facilitating networking, learning and capacity building.

How to integrate nature conservation and forest management in two days

by Johanna StrieckDecember 18, 2017December 20, 2017 Leave a comment

Wrapping up the results of the InForMAr kick-off meeting

By Johanna Strieck & Laura Nikinmaa

European Forest Institute’s (EFI) Bonn office hosted a two-day’s workshop to kick off the project Integrated Forest Management Learning Architecture (InForMAr). The project aims at conveying existing knowledge related to the implementation of integrated forest management, in order to spread cases of success as well as to address and to fill potential knowledge gaps. To get a background as inclusive as possible, around 30 European policy stakeholders, scientists and practitioners joined the workshop to discuss (and co-design) the research approach of the InForMAr project, and to connect to the project’s networking and policy/practice support activities.

Head of EFI’s resilience program Dr. Georg Winkel introduced the project and drew attention to its integrative character from the beginning: “The main aspect is to create learning sites for policy, science and practice to connect, to enable the identification of driving forces, so to understand and to demonstrate successful cases for adaptation in all contexts.” Specific training sites, called Marteloscopes, already enjoy great popularity. According to Andreas Schuck, Senior Researcher within InForMAr, stakeholders from all over Europe already express high interest – from practitioners over policy stakeholders to universities.

Introducing: European Network INTEGRATE

by Gesche SchifferdeckerNovember 27, 2017January 22, 2018 Leave a comment

The European network INTEGRATE is currently comprised of 16 European member states and involves 50 representatives of policy and research related to forest and environment as well as the European commission. Its main objective is to encourage the international exchange of success stories on integrated forest management, which implies the integration of nature conservation into sustainable forest management.

The network was initially brought into life by German federal minister Christian Schmidt and his Czech colleague Marian Jurêcka, and subsequently supported by the European Commission’s Standing Forestry Committee. Forest management challenges related to nature conservation are rather similar across Europe. States within and outside the EU already plan on being actively involved in the network. INTEGRATE member states will provide forest areas on which their successful management strategies can be exemplified.

Tag: European forests