Case studies

 

The general approach is that a limited number of selected simulation models at the stand, landscape and EU level are further developed around specific real landscape cases. There are two cases per each of five bioclimatic zones and one more generic for the EU. This number of real cases is selected to reflect the diversity in European forests as well as the different functions they have and the main risk concerning them. All cases have some communal­ities such as the timber production and assessment of the impact of climate change on growth and competition, but each case also has specific characteristics, i.e. we will focus on certain case specific risk and management concerns, such as forest fires, coppice manage­ment, protection from natural hazards, optimized biomass production, or nature conservation.

 

Bioclimatic zone	Case region	The main risk / Management concerns	Good and services	Specific characteristics
Boreal	North Karelia, Finland	Strong climate change effect	Timber, biomass for bioenergy	Longer vegetation period Stakeholder dialogue
	Kronoberg, Sweden	Storm / Land use change	Livelihood, timber, biomass for bioenergy, nature conservation, recreation	Development of methodology for social science aspect
Temperate Atlantic	Wales, UK	Storm, insects	Carbon, biomass, timber, nature conservation, recreation	Large scale plantation conversion
	South-east Veluwe, Netherlands	Storm	Recreation, timber, nature conservation	Pine conservation to mixed stands
Temperate Central	Black Forest, Germany	Storm, snow, insects / Habitat loss	Timber, biomass for bioenergy, recreation	Forest conversion, conflicts tourism vs. endangered species
	Alpine, Austria / Switzerland	Storm, bark beetles, fire / Whole tree harvesting	Protective functions, carbon, timber, livelihood, nature conservation	Steep slopes, strong gradients, protective functions, whole tree harvest
Mediterranean	Prades, Catalonia	Drought, fire	Water protection	Management for avoiding forest degradation, fires and maximizing water efficiency
	Atlantic, Portugal	Drought, fire, cork oak dieback	Timber, water protection	Tree species shift
Continental	Mediterranean, Bulgaria	Drought stress / Coppice	Timber, carbon, biomass for bioenergy	Outgrowing coppice, ownership transition, diversification of functions
	Carpathians, Romania	Heat and drought stress, insects, windfall	Timber, biomass for bioenergy, carbon, water protection, nutrient cycles	Ownership transition, endemic illegal logging, long rotation ages
European		Storm / Regional specific demand, regionally diverse management	Timber, carbon, nature conservation	European scale conversion to uneven-aged management