LIFE Project: Towards the conservation and management of resilient agroforestry systems through silvopastoralism

Climate change is causing significant detrimental impacts on European forests, which extend across 158 million hectares and cover 37.7% of the EU territory. These effects include longer periods of drought and increased risks of wildfires, tree diseases, and flooding. In this scenario, the Iberian Peninsula is one of the areas with the highest incidence, with almost 13 million hectares burned in recent decades. Furthermore, changes in the growth and mortality of some forest species associated with climate change have recently been detected in the Iberian Peninsula. In the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula, forests coexist with other land uses/vegetation cover in a mosaic structure, currently threatened by the increase in forest/shrub cover and the loss of pastures. Among the strategies to increase forest resilience to climate change, it is worth highlighting the implementation of territorial plans that contribute to the conservation of the landscape mosaic, thereby providing various ecosystem services that help address the impacts of climate change.