Silvicultural response strategies to climatic change in management of European forests (SilviStrat)

The overall objective of the project is to develop adaptive forest management strategies in order to increase the sequestration and storage of carbon and to mitigate adverse impacts of climate change in European forests. In order to determine appropriate response strategies to climate change the following topics of forest management are addressed: (a) Analyse direct and indirect impacts of present forest management regimes and operations on sequestration and storage of carbon in European forests, and to develop a better understanding of how management regimes and operations could be improved to maintain sustainable forest production at the same time as the carbon sequestration capacity of European forests in increased under current and changing climatic conditions. (b) Analyse adaptive forest management strategies aimed at reducing the impacts of drought and other adverse effects of climate change (c) Assess how adaptive forest management strategies for increased carbon sequestration in the major European forest types might affect costs and returns at the management unit level (d) Assess how to optimize management operations in representative management units with the goal of increasing carbon sequestration and maintaining a sustainable forest production under changing climatic conditions (e) Estimate the potential of forest management at the European scale on carbon sequestration and mitigation of climate change induced impacts The assessment will apply different scenarios of climate change and management. The socio-economic implications of different management strategies under a changing climate will be assessed in terms of management costs, availability of timber, income from timber sales, and employment opportunities. The expertise developed in several previous EU projects regarding model development and application will be widely utilized in SilviStrat.