The project’s consortium will design portfolios of adapted management solutions and innovative bioeconomic and governance models to enhance the resilience of tomorrow’s forests.
The eco2adapt project aims to help stakeholders manage forests to optimize social and ecological resilience.
The project will use artificial intelligence methods to create portfolios of climate-resilient species and management methods available through a smartphone app.
Eco2adapt is a Horizon Europe research and innovation action project entitled “Ecosystem-based Adaptation and Changemaking to Shape, Protect and Maintain the Resilience of Tomorrow’s Forests.” With the goal of linking forest resilience towards climate change and anthropogenic impacts in Europe and China, the project intends to reduce vulnerability and build socio-ecological resilience to climate change.
Led by the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), eco2adapt brings together 31 European and Chinese organizations on forestry, ecology and climate change, including the Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC).
Achieving resilient forest management practices requires locally tailored solutions. Using an Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) approach that considers biodiversity and Nature’s benefits to humans, eco2adapt will consider not only the tree species, but the gain for the entire social-ecological system, so that local communities can contribute to safeguarding tomorrow’s multifunctional forests. To better understand the societal perception and acceptability of EbA solutions, eco2adapt will work with all levels of stakeholders to understand what drives their decision-making and to create change-making models and policies for resilient forest management, business and governance that will be effectively implemented by both citizens and governments.
The consortium will also develop digital tools using cutting-edge artificial intelligence methods to harness information from Big Data in forestry archives around the world. Combined with sophisticated modeling to predict the effects of management on forest dynamics in a changing climate, and how this will affect services and contributions to people, the information will be used to create portfolios of climate-resilient species and management methods that can be accessed via a free Smartphone application. The application will help forest managers choose the best species/mixture of species to plant depending on local conditions, climate projections and community needs.
eco2adapt will co-create solutions for resilient forests together with stakeholders in 15 climate hotspots in Europe and China. Living Labs will be set up in each hotspot, which have been selected to cover a broad range of forest and climate types. Animal and plant biodiversity will be monitored through citizen science, remote sensing and experiments. EbA-style management will be tested at experimental sites and the best solutions demonstrated at lighthouse sites, with EbA training given to stakeholders. Living Lab activities will allow stakeholders to learn about new solutions across Europe and China, including novel forest insurance and business mechanisms, certification schemes and policy updates.
Last modified: 21 June 2023
