RESILIENT TREES
Old-Growth forests and Veteran Trees for Biodiversity and Resilient Landscapes
Project summary
RESILIENT TREES objective is to increase the protection of biodiversity, successfully putting into practice improved policies for what concerns old-growth forests and monumental-veteran trees:
- Old-growth forests (OGF) are among EU’s key ecosystems, fundamental for biodiversity, ecosystem services and human-wellbeing. Yet, forest degradation and biodiversity loss continue at unprecedented rates and these forests are rare, small, and fragmented, representing less than 3% of the total forest area.
- Monumental-veteran trees (MVT) are exceptionally long-living trees and keystone structures, stepping-stones that have a disproportionate positive effect on the ecosystems where they occur. Climate change and land use intensification threaten them and their successors are becoming rare.
In accordance with the EU Biodiversity Strategy, the recent EU Guidelines for defining and mapping OGF will represent the project framework. Through the synergic partnership between policy authorities, scientific bodies and NGOs, we will adapt such guidelines to the regional contexts. In parallel, we will improve the national policies on the preservation of MVT in place in the involved regions, better defining the criteria for their identification and management.
Through RESILIENT TREES participatory approach we will address the conflicting interests that threaten OGF and MVT, increasing the awareness on the outstanding ecosystem services they provide and supporting their protection through the design of compensatory measures.
Project parners
- Institute of Bioeconomy - National Research Council of Italy - Italy
- Piemonte Region, Directorate for the Environment, Energy and Land Use, Forest Unit - Italy
- University of Évora - Portugal
- Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague - Czech Republic
- Vytautas Magnus University - Lithuania
- State Service for the Protected Areas under the Ministry of Environment - Lithuania
- National Forestry Agency - Albania
- PSEDA-ILIRIA - Albania
- BROZ - conservation association - Slovakia
What will this project change
The collaborative effort of nine partner institutions and three associated policy authorities from six countries will promote the creation of a network of keystone forest resources, increasing the resilience of our landscapes. Embracing the diversity of European regions where OGF and MVT occur, from high conservation value forest reserves to cultural landscapes, RESILIENT TREES will restore and preserve forest biodiversity.