Innovative management strategies for climate change adaptation of mixed subhumid Mediterranean forests

The main aim of the project is to contribute to the adaptation to climate change of European mixed sub-humid Mediterranean forests by increasing their resilience, ensuring their conservation and enhancing their productive, environmental and social functions. In particular, the project aims to:
* Develop, implement and demonstrate innovative forest management techniques designed to increase the resilience and intrinsic adaptation capacity of different types of sub-humid Mediterranean forests. The project will test these silvicutural techniques on pilot demonstration forest stands;
* Develop new tools for integrating the adaptation to climate change of sub-humid Mediterranean forests in the policy and legal framework related to forest management, such as enhanced local policy actions where this type of forest is located in areas highly dependent on its social and environmental functions;
* Develop new tools to strengthen the economics of forest management, linked to the products that sub-humid Mediterranean forests can provide, in order to foster economic sustainability of mid- and long-term forest management aimed at climate change adaptation, and to prevent the abandonment of forest activities; and
* Transfer implemented techniques and developed tools to regional and European stakeholders (forest owners and managers, public bodies, companies and decision-makers) from areas hosting sub-humid Mediterranean forests, in order to improve the long-term management and conservation of these habitats, to raise social awareness about the relevance of the problems addressed within the project and to maintain sustainable economic activities that guarantee the conservation of these forests.
The project will test innovative silvicultural models on 177 ha of pilot demonstration forest stands, distributed across four areas representative of the bioclimatic gradient and the diversity of sub-humid Mediterranean forests and the problems that they face regarding climate change. It is expected that this will lead to the following results:
* Reducing competition between trees, whilst increasing their vitality and water use efficiency;
* Increasing the structural diversity and complexity of the forests in the pilot stands; and
* Increasing forest biodiversity.
Additional expected results include:
* The cataloguing and dissemination to opinion leaders and business sectors that may find useful added-value products from sub-humid Mediterranean forests;
* Design of a pilot system for the logistics and commercialisation of products from these stands, accepted and validated by local forest owners;
* Improvement of the forest legal framework in order to integrate the management of sub-humid Mediterranean forests to climate change adaptation actions;
* Transferability achieved through targeted involvement of stakeholders, including at least 215 specialised participants in dissemination and training activities;
* Having the innovative silvicultural models included in the Guidelines for Sustainable Forest Management in Catalonia (ORGEST) system;
* Active participation of at least five municipalities in the development of the project actions; and
* At least 10 municipalities attending the communication and dissemination actions.