FORECO: The role of forest recovery from biotic and abiotic threats for risk resilient management

Purpose and goal:

The objective of FORECO is to provide tools for the identification and operationalisation of sustainable and multifunctional use of forests, and the development of management strategies that take into account ecological and economic risks related to biotic and abiotic threats in the coming decades (drought, storms, spruce bark beetles), as well as the resilience of forests to disturbance.

Expected results and effects:

With this unique combination of data, economic and ecological modelling and the involvement of expert knowledge, we expect novel insights into the dynamics of forest responses to biotic and abiotic threats with important implications for sustainable management of forests and their contribution to the SDGs. The process will be carried out in close collaboration with local, national and EU-level stakeholders, facilitating bi-directional flows of information and results.

Approach and implementation:

We will combine LiDAR observations of forest structure with a recently published remote-sensing derived disturbance map, develop new remote sensing approaches for mapping forest recovery, and apply process-based vegetation modelling. The outputs of the vegetation model will serve as input for an optimisation to schedule potential trends in forest ecosystem functioning, ecosystem service provisioning and optimal management regimes under changing biotic and abiotic threats and timber markets.