What is forest resilience?
Forest resilience is the ability of forests and society to recover and adapt to environmental, climatic and societal changes. It combines three interconnected aspects: forests' capacity to endure short-term challenges like seasonal weather fluctuations (engineering resilience), their ability to adapt naturally to long-term impacts such as climate change, fires, or pest outbreaks through shifts in species composition (ecological resilience), and the role of societies in responding to shocks like natural disasters or economic changes while still promoting sustainable outcomes (social-ecological resilience). Strengthening resilience requires actions like diversifying tree species and adapting forest management strategies to balance environmental and societal needs.
Most recent scientific advances include developing concrete steps to apply the concept in practice.
Hierarchy of commonly used resilience concepts. Modified from Nikinmaa et al. 2020.
Further reading
Lloret et al. 2024. ORF, an operational framework to measure resilience in social–ecological systems: the forest case study. Sustainability Science 19, 1579–1593.
Related content
Forest monitoring: How do we know what is happening in Europe’s forests?
Forest monitoring has been constantly evolving through time, in tune with new scientific methods and with evolving societal expectations towards…
- Resilient forests
How can we monitor carbon in forests?
Effective monitoring quantifies carbon sequestration, guides policy, and strengthens the credibility of climate mitigation.
- Resilient forests
What is carbon farming in forests?
Explore carbon farming activities, practices and co-benefits
- Resilient forests
