Forest Resilience in Canada under a Changing Climate
Barry Gardiner (EFIPLANT) was invited and funded by FPInnovations and the Canadian Wood Fibre Centre to attend a planning workshop on “Silviculture in the 21st Century for sustainable fibre supply under Global Change - Silv@21” on 7 and 8 March in Montreal, Canada.
The purpose of the meeting was to identify research needs for the development of a major initiative in silviculture research in Canada among representatives of universities, federal organisations, provincial governments and the forest and wood processing sectors. The purpose of Barry Gardiner’s visit was to inform the participants of the workshop about European initiatives on combating risks to forests and implementing resilience policies and practices, many of which are being led by EFI.
In addition Barry was asked to provide an outside perspective on the issues facing the forestry sector in Canada. Indeed, one of the major reasons for inviting him to attend the workshop is the increasing use of plantation forests in Canada and the potential for future collaboration between EFIPLANT and Canadian colleagues on the management of plantations, together with Barry’s status as an honorary professor at Université Laval in Quebec.
There are clearly major challenges facing Canadian forestry because of the rapidly changing climate with new threats to the forests from pests, diseases, fire and other abiotic risks. In addition many areas are becoming inaccessible for harvesting because of reduced periods of frozen ground. The challenges in such an enormous country are daunting but the country clearly has the necessary technological and research expertise to tackle this challenge. The initiative launched at the workshop is an important step in enhancing forest resilience in Canada.
For more information, please contact Barry Gardiner (EFIPLANT)
Photo by FPInnovations
