FORESTCAST

Assessment and forecasting of ecosystem services in forests: impacts and adaptation to extreme climate events

Creaf leader

Climate change has been observed to have a wide range of effects on environmental systems and society, a trend which is expected to grow in the future due to increases climate extreme events. The impacts of these climate extreme events are quite different depending on the sector and region considered.

Forests provide a number of vital ecosystem services. The aim of the FORESTCAST project is to develop a conceptual and methodological
framework to integrate risks, impacts and vulnerabilities of climate extreme events (mainly drought and fire) on Mediterranean forests using models for the different ecosystem services (carbon, water, biodiversity) and integrating the effects of the different adaptation strategies to address climate extreme events.

The FORESTCAST project will advance beyond the state-of-the-art because it will include and integrate the following:

(a) analyze meteorological projections and databases in order to assess climatic regimes and areas with a high risk of climate extremes;
(b) develop integrated, standardized assessment at regional level for determining quantitative impacts resulting from climate extreme event on forests;
(c) forecast the possible trajectory of these impacts under different climatic and socioeconomic scenarios;
(d) involve stakeholders, policy and decision-makers, and those who implement policy in defining and developing a tool to help them to choose strategies for addressing climaterelated extreme events;
(e) develop a decision support tool integrating the information of future forest scenarios and adaptation measures that can be taken up by potential end-users;
(f) synthesize the outputs of the other research areas in order to develop solutions at the local, regional and national level.