Assess4EST: Assessment of trade-offs and potentials to breed and manage forests to meet sustainability goals

Purpose and goal:

We will evaluate the possibilities of combining sustainability goals in forest management in the northern European region. The results will emphasize not only yield, carbon sequestration and biodiversity, but also the forest´s resilience in changing climates and the quality of produced biomass. In addition, it will create a new platform for discussions between researchers, tree breeders and stakeholders about the forest´s future and future use of wood.

Expected results and effects:

Assess4EST will contribute to maintain high survival, health, resilience, diversity, and productivity under climate change and natural disturbances as key ecological functions to foster a competitive EU bio-based economy. The project will provide: 1) science-based information to stakeholders on effects and possibilities of different management and regeneration methods, 2) Joint discussions between business, policymakers, and researchers on sustainable use of forests and wood, 3) information about genomic trade-offs to solve them in multitrait selection.

Approach and implementation:

New properties that must be considered (eg. wood disease and drought resistance), together with new molecular and phenotypic tools, and advanced statistical analyzes require international cooperation. Our transnational approach (Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Latvia) provides opportunities for research to test methods and assess ideas in different genetic backgrounds.

Similarly, national forestry simulation tools based on national empirical data can be seen as an asset: factors can be tested in fairly similar environmental regimes using slightly different methods.