LIFE Project: Adaptive management of Mediterranean Pinus halepensis forests in the face of climate change
- Type Project
- Status In progress
- Execution 2021 -2025
- Assigned Budget 2.606.279,00 €
- Scope Europeo
- Autonomous community Castilla - La Mancha
- Main source of financing LIFE
- Project website Web del proyecto
The purpose of the LIFE ADAPT-ALEPPO project is to develop new tools for adapting Iberian Aleppo pine forests to climate change and to demonstrate their application through forest management actions.
Climate change is expected to have major impacts on the future dynamics and functioning of Mediterranean forest ecosystems. Scenarios indicate an acceleration of temperature increases and a slight to moderate reduction in precipitation, leading to an overall increase in aridity. Similarly, a greater frequency of extreme events (both high temperatures and low precipitation) is expected, resulting in more frequent and severe drought episodes. Increased water stress associated with longer and more intense droughts may lead to changes in plant mortality and regeneration, affecting current species distributions and leading to the disappearance and replacement of certain species by others. Furthermore, certain natural disturbances, such as large forest fires and pest and disease events, are expected to increase in frequency and severity, potentially leading to major changes in the distribution and composition of forest habitats at the regional scale.
- Develop a habitat suitability map and implement a tool to detect decomposition processes through remote sensing.
- Implement and monitor assisted migration actions to improve the capacity of forest ecosystems to adapt to climate-driven aridification.
- Implement and monitor silvicultural treatments aimed at improving vitality and reducing the effects of reduced water availability.
- Implement and monitor silvicultural treatments to improve structural and floristic heterogeneity in Aleppo pine forests and increase the diversity of responses to disturbances.
- Implement and monitor adaptive management actions to improve the resilience and adaptive capacity of Aleppo pine forests after fire regeneration.
- Develop management tools and transfer them to forest administrations to promote the integration of climate change adaptation into national and regional forest management regulations.
- Evaluate the success and impact of the project.
- Transfer the developed techniques and tools to key local stakeholders and other interested parties involved in the European distribution area of the Aleppo pine (i.e., Balearic, French, and Italian stakeholders).
- Assessing habitat vulnerability through the development of suitability maps and the diagnosis of forest deterioration processes.
- Technical guidelines on adaptive management of Aleppo pine forests in the face of climate change.
- Coordinator/entity name: Esteban Jordán
Postal address: Calle El Pino Num 4 Piso 1 Pta DR, 02006, Albacete,
LIFE ADAPT-ALEPPO will work on climate change adaptation and mitigation, thus contributing to these priority areas of the LIFE climate subprogram. Project management tools will identify forest decline processes and, therefore, potential forest stand losses. This will help reduce forest carbon sink losses and, therefore, reduce emissions in the LULUCF (land use, land-use change, and forestry) sector. These action areas are in line with the EU's green strategy, the European Green Deal, which aims to neutralize greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and emphasizes the role of forest areas in this regard.
- Ingeniería del Entorno Natural S.L.
- UPV(UNIVERSITAT POLITéCNICA DE VALENCIA)
- UdL(UNIVERSITAT DE LLEIDA)
- DGMN(DIRECCIóN GENERAL DEL MEDIO NATURAL. SUBDIRECCIóN DE POLITICA FORESTAL Y CAZA. COMUNIDAD AUTóNOMA DE LA REGIóN DE MURCIA)
- AGRESTA(AGRESTA S Coop)
- UCLM(UNIVERSIDAD DE CASTILLA - LA MANCHA)
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