The overall aim of eco2adapt is to help stakeholders manage forests to optimise social and ecological resilience. Using the concept of nature-based solutions, we combine interdisciplinary knowledge from scientists and stakeholders in Europe and China to understand perception and provide incentivization for adapting management and policy.
The eco2adapt consortium has co-constructed the project idea through discussions with stakeholders, NGOs, foresters and landowners. Together we have analysed which bottlenecks render European and Chinese forests socially and ecologically ill-equipped to cope with climate change. Reasons range from inappropriate species choice and planting in unsuitable soils and climates, ill-suited management actions, poor resistance to abiotic and biotic hazards, species invasions, market and political forcing. Also, landowners and foresters are unwilling to invest in plantations in climate hotspots, because of a lack of appropriate insurance premiums if the forest is damaged through storms, fire, drought, insect and pathogen attack.
Therefore, we propose a portfolio of adapted management solutions and innovative bioeconomic and governance business models, including insurance, governance and certification, for stakeholders to interact differently with a multifunctional social-ecological forest system at a regional scale. We will also provide a suite of cutting-edge tools to monitor forest vulnerability and resilience (such as invasive species and biodiversity) for use by diverse societal groups, from the citizen to the policy-maker. By including tailored communication to all levels of society, we will reach out to a broad audience with the capacity to cause positive change.
In the capacity of project partner, EFI will contribute specifically by leading on the development of an EU-China Forum for improving incentivization through the Design of Payments for Environmental Services (task 2.4), the development of changemaking mechanisms to create a new and resilient future for forests (WP6) with an assessment of the potential contribution by resilient value chains in linking climate, resilience, bioeconomy and innovation (Task 6.1); and contributing to large-scale modelling of the impact of future forest disturbances and assessing alternative adaptation strategies (Task 4.4); as well as contribute to various tasks in a supportive role.
This project has received funding from the European Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101059498.