The central objective of the project was to assess climate change impacts on European forests, in terms of water and carbon fluxes, regional differences, long-term effects, and the overall carbon budget for forests in Europe. The results of this assessment were used to identify sustainable forest management strategies that account for these impacts, and that maximise carbon sequestration. This was done by:
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assessment and modelling of the long-term regional impacts of climate change on European forests, with emphasis on growth rates and water relations (drought), and on possible adaptive strategies for forest management;
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upscaling of such regional responses to the European scale to quantify the overall carbon budget and sustainable wood supply of European forests at present and under future climate change.
EFI was involved in upscaling forest inventory data to the European scale by incorporating regional forest responses in the European Forest Information Scenario Model (EFISCEN). This was done by integrating and harmonising the outputs of the process-based models used in the regional impacts assessment to adjust growth curves in the EFISCEN model. The current and future European wood production and carbon budgets were assessed, taking into account total tree biomass, soil organic matter and wood products.