Sustainable adaptation to climate change of forest sector management in the province of Soria

The LIFE SORIA FORESTADAPT project aims to increase the resilience of southern European forests to climate change, including through adaptation measures in public and private forest management plans. A Technical Reference for Forest Management with climate change adaptation measures will be the basis for a gradual modification of the forest management plans throughout the province of Soria. The project will update planning for 200 881 ha of public forest in the long term (an average of 12 000 ha/year will adopt climate adaptation measures) and will also influence afforestation programmes on private lands, especially agricultural land. The aim is to expand the model to the rest of the Autonomous Region of Castilla y Leon, and then to the rest of Spain and Southern Europe.
Specific project objectives are to:
* Improve the knowledge basis and the monitoring of adaptation measures in public forest management plans and new afforestation programmes on private lands;
* Contribute to the development and demonstration of innovative silvicultural practices;
* Develop an extended methodology (first created in LIFE AgriAdapt) with certified indicators to assess the vulnerability of forests and to support decision-making;
* Replicate this methodology throughout Europe using the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Asociacin para la Certificacin Espaola Forestal (PEFC) certification tools and the obtained indicators for new forest management plans adapted to climate change;
* Focus adaptation measures on soil conservation and carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation and air quality;
* Develop replicable adaptation measures in relict and priority wooded ecosystems threatened by climate change (Pinus uncinata, Juniperus thurifera, Taxus baccata, etc.); and
* Involve the private sector in financing adaptive measures to complement those of carbon footprint compensation in the forestry sector.