[COLLOQUE] GENTREE Final Conference 27-31 January 2020 séance 30

GENTREE Final Conference : Marcus LINDNER - European Forest Institute Bonn · Germany

GENTREE Final Conference 'Genetics to the rescue - managing forests sustainably in a changing environment'

27-31 January 2020, Avignon, France

http://www.gentree-h2020.eu/

Marcus LINDNER - European Forest Institute Bonn · Germany : Innovative forest genetic resource management and adaptation to climate change – understanding management constraints to inform policies

Climate change is a major challenge to forest management in Europe.

To ensure the conservation and sustainable use of forests under theongoing environmental changes with increased severity of extremeevents, dedicated adaptation strategies will be crucial.

Devisingsuccessful adaptation measures should consider the diversity offorest types and management regimes across European forests andunderstand how these define and limit the potentials of innovativeforest genetic resource management.

The objective of thispresentation is to connect knowledge about potential adaptationmeasures and their implementation status in Europe with the regionaldistribution of forest management practices in Europe as compiled inthe GenTree Forest Management Atlas to point out potentials andlimitations for innovative forest genetic resource management andfrom this draw some policy recommendations.

Material/Methods:Adaptation measures in forest management, their implementation statusand suitability to cope with the observed and projected climatechange and extreme events were reviewed in the Forest Europe ExpertGroup on Adaptation to Climate Change, using two questionnaires.

Theresults were processed in the INFORMAR project and linked with acategorisation of adaptation measures to assess their suitability torespond to climate change within the realms of intensified andintegrated forest management.

Using the information from the GenTreeforest management atlas, we analysed how alternative forestmanagement regimes constrain the use of innovative forest geneticresource management approaches. Results: We elaborated a decisiontree that links the current forest management context with availableadaptation measures, including the use of forest gene conservationand advanced tree breeding.

We point out adaptation opportunities andchallenges across the diverse forest types and management regimes inEurope.

Legal constraints and societal disputes also need to beconsidered as constraints in the uptake of possible adaptationmeasures.

Against this backdrop, the possible application ofinnovative forest genetic resource conservation and managementstrategies developed in Gentree is highlighted.

Advanced treebreeding material can be effectively utilized in intensive forestmanagement regimes that rely on artificial regeneration.

However, newadaptive management approaches will need to be developed in regionsthat predominantly rely on natural regeneration of species withdeclining site suitability, thereby challenging existing forestmanagement paradigms such as close-to-nature silviculture.

Conclusions: Forest genetic resource management is stronglyconstrained by the existing management context and this isparticularly relevant in view of the needs to adapt forest managementto climate change.

A better understanding of the link betweenmanagement practices and forest genetic resource dynamics underclimate change is warranted.

This understanding needs to becommunicated to stakeholders and decision makers at different levelsfrom practical forest management districts to national policy implementation.