Impacts of Climate Change on European Forests and Options for Adaptation

This study compiles and summarizes the existing knowledge about observed and projected impacts of climate change on forests in Europe and reviews options for forests and forestry to adapt to climate change. It has been commissioned by the Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission as an initial exploration of this complex issue. Forests are particularly sensitive to climate change, because the long life-span of trees does not allow for rapid adaptation to environmental changes. Adaptation measures for forestry need to be planned well in advance of expected changes in growing conditions because the forests regenerated today will have to cope with the future climate conditions of at least several decades, often even more than 100 years. Impacts of climate change and adaptation options were reviewed by synthesizing the existing knowledge from scientific literature, complemented with expert assessments. On-going and planned adaptation measures in EU27 Member States were surveyed with a questionnaire.

The exposure to climate change was analysed by reviewing latest climate change scenario projections in Chapter 3. The main impact factors affecting forests under climate change were reviewed in Chapter 4.1. Next, the sensitivity to and potential impacts of climate change were analysed (Chapter 4.2). After reviewing different components of the adaptive capacity of forests and forestry (Chapter 5), vulnerability to climate change and related risks and opportunities were highlighted (Chapter 6). Chapters 7 to 9 analyse possible adaptation measures to respond to climate change, assess feasibility and efficiency of prominent measures, and survey their implementation in the 27 EU Member States. The results are presented for four main bioclimatic zones: Boreal, Temperate Oceanic, Temperate Continental, and the Mediterranean. Mountainous regions have been also analysed where appropriate.