FORWARDS | The Forest Ward Observatory to Secure Resilience of European Forests
Referente scientifico
Project Coordinator – Prof. Ruben Valbuena (SLU)
Gruppo di lavoro
Gherardo Chirici, Saverio Francini, Francesca Giannetti, Giovanni D’Amico, Costanza Borghi, Davide Travaglini, Elia Vangi, Livia Passarino
Partner di progetto
1. SLU (coordinator) - Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet, Sweden
2. EFI - European Forest Institute, Finland
3. UNIFI -Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy
4. UNIMOL -Università degli Studi del Molise, Italy
5. WSL - Eidgenössische Forschungsanstalt WSL, Switzerland
6. THUE - Thünen Institute, Germany
7. GFZ - Helmholtz Geo-Research Center Potsdam, Germany
8. WU - Wageningen University Netherlands
9. WR - Stichting Wageningen Research, Netherlands
10. FCRA - Forest Research, UK
11. SILAVA - Latvian State Forest Research Institute Silava, Latvia
12. ICONS - Fondazione ICONS, Italy
13. BANGOR - Bangor University, UK
14. LUKE - Natural Resources Institute Finland, Finland
15. ESSRG - Environmental Social Science Research Group, Hungary
16. BOKU - University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna Austria
17. LUND - Lund Universitet, Sweden
18. PI - Prospex Institute, Belgium
19. EVINBO - Research Institute for Nature and Forest, Belgium
Principali obiettivi
“Forwards” aims to develop, test, and implement a European Observatory that will (a) supply timely and detailed information on European forests’ vulnerability to climate change impacts, and (b) build on a network of CSF and restoration pilots to provide science-based reference knowledge to guide CSF & Restoration management activities, with (c) a system for incorporating stakeholder engagement and public participation in the final decision-making. To achieve our aim, FORWARDS will establish ‘The ForestWard Observatory’: a platform linking forest data, management options, and stakeholder engagement to increase our knowledge on the impacts of climate change on European forests and facilitate timely and widespread CSF & Restoration management responses, contributing to increasing the resilience of European forests in the long term. To achieve this, FORWARDS has the following specific objectives [each linked to a specific Work Package (WP)]:
Obj1: Design, develop and implement an operational pilot network for long-term monitoring of climate impact on forests, and a platform (The ForestWard Observatory) co-designed to meet user needs [WP5].
Obj2: Combine ground-based and RS forest data to provide timely information on climate change impacts, forest status and detailed characterisation of forest disturbances [WP2].
Obj3: Identify, quantify, and evaluate options and tools to guide forest restoration activities and CSF and restoration management across Europe, based on a network of pilots that provide evidence-based information on effective CSF & restoration management practices and forward-looking projections [WP3].
Obj4: Develop systems to integrate and involve key stakeholders and citizens in practical decision-making to tackle climate change impacts through CSF management and forest ecosystem restoration [WP4].
Obj5: Improve our capacity to provide effective science-based policy support backed by relevant EU-wide information that can guide the development of European policies regarding CSF & Restoration management, protecting the resilience of European forests and timely action against forest disturbances [WP6].
Obj6: Foster collaboration between universities, research institutes, and intergovernmental bodies and liaise with relevant networks and initiatives to maximise FORWARDS’ practical impact by promoting synergies, integration and cooperation and facilitating knowledge exchange with targeted stakeholders and forestry practitioners [WP6].
Abstract
“Forwards” will prototype The ForestWard Observatory to provide (a) timely and detailed information on European forests’ vulnerability to climate change impacts, (b) science-based knowledge to guide management using the principles of climate-smart forestry, ecosystem restoration, and biodiversity preservation (CSF & Restoration), and (c) stakeholder engagement and public participation in decision-making processes.
We capitalize on data from existing networks (e.g. ICP Forests) and expand this with a Network of Pilot sites through 5 “Forwards” Demo cases plus ~50 trials established via grants to third parties. We will reconcile the current divide between forest information obtained from the ground and remote sensing by incorporating the concept of Monitoring Supersites and novel approaches to more comprehensively characterize cause-effect relationships of forest disturbances.
Tools for European-wide forward-looking and spatially explicit projections on forests as well as regionalized CSF & Restoration trajectories will be developed jointly with stakeholders to evaluate synergies and trade-offs of conversion and restoration activities.
These will be used to provide good practice guidance on effective CSF & Restoration management practices. The ForestWard Observatory will be constructed under the principle of co-design to address the information needs by users and stakeholders.
FORWARDS interacts with several established networks on CSF & Restoration and effectively utilizes five dedicated grant calls to implement forest observations and test CSF & restoration measures. The ambition is for The ForestWard Observatory to become a long-lasting legacy of FORWARDS, which supports decision making across scales to boost the uptake of good CSF & Restoration management practice throughout Europe (local scale for management practice), while efficiently informing about climate change and disturbance impacts and resilience of European forests (regional to EU scale for policy making).
Azioni progettuali
(in grassetto quelle coordinate da DAGRI-UNIFI)
WP1. Project management and grant allocation
WP2. Assessing the forest status: terrestrial monitoring and remote sensing
- Task 2.2 Pan-European characterization of disturbances and estimation of vulnerabilities and risks
- Task 2.3 Indicators of forest structure and functioning to support CSF management and restoration at the local level
WP3. Restoration and climate-smart forest management practices
WP4. Multi-actor forum for integrating societal perspectives
WP5. The ForestWard Observatory
WP6. Impact assurance and outreach
Other DAGRI-UNIFI contributions:
- Co-lead WP2, major contributor lead of T2.2 and T2.3
- Developing Remote sensing maps of disturbances and vulnerability risk, and indicators to support CSF and restoration activities
- Contributes to developing ForestWard Observatory prototype and data processing (WP3)
- Stakeholder engagement (WP4)
- Contributes in linking database to ForestWard Observatory prototype, Knowledge consolidation and transfer of knowledge (WP5)
Principali risultati conseguiti
(da aggiungere quando lo passiamo all’archivio dopo fine del progetto)
Durata
Inizio: 01/11/2022
Conclusione: 31/10/2027
Proroga:
Ente finanziatore e bando
European Union – HORIZON-CL6-2022-CLIMATE-01
Grant agreement ID 101084481
Sito web progetto
Altri siti web d’interesse
The ForestWard Observatory to Secure Resilience of European Forests
Ultimo aggiornamento
11.08.2023