18 September 2013: The Forest Research Institute of Baden-Württemberg and Forest Europe released a report on the Models for Adaptative Forest Management (MOTIVE) project funded by the European Union (EU).

The MOTIVE project, with a budget of nine million Euros, aims to evaluate the impacts of climate change on Europe’s forests and design adaptation activities to reduce negative impacts. The report contains a summary of the scientific evaluations including case studies from Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.

Overall, the report states that climate change is expected to increase forest production in Northern Europe whereas in Central Europe projections are less clear. However, in Southern Europe significant negative consequences are expected as a result of increased temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns.

The report also presents the decisions support system for forest management planning under climate change. The system is based on three steps: selection of study area and inventory data; selection of the climate change scenarios; and generation of management alternatives.

Also presented is a web based ToolBox to support adaptive management under changing climate conditions. The ToolBox includes a database on climate change indicators, a knowledge base on forest management for climate change, and a vulnerability assessment tool. [Publication: Adapting to Climate Change in European Forests – Results of the MOTIVE Project] [Forest Europe Press Release]