PS 4-207 - Implementing climate-smart forestry in Mediterranean regions to contribute to a new circular bioeconomy

Background/Question/Methods

Climate-smart forestry (CSF) is a holistic approach to meet the goals of sustainable forest management. CSF is developed for climate change mitigation purposes by increasing carbon storage both in forests and wood products and by using wood resources to substitute non-renewable, carbon-intensive materials, but also to fulfill other forest functions such as biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services provisioning, and the promotion of a rural bioeconomy. The implementation of the principles behind a sustainable circular bioeconomy is especially relevant in the context of global societies with an ever-increasing demand for energy, water, and food, degradation of the natural heritage, rapid and sudden environmental changes, and risk of ecological collapse of ecosystems. Indeed, CSF is seen as a suitable approach for Mediterranean forest regions, characterized by low-performance timber yields, high fire risk, and water-stressed ecosystems, to face global changes and contribute to a new circular bioeconomy. In this study, we compare the outcomes of CSF vs. a business-as-usual forest management regime when applied over the 21^st century in Catalonia (NE Spain). We use a forest projection system to simulate forest management and dynamics, and quantify carbon stocks and emissions, blue water provisioning, fire risk mitigation, timber products, and habitat quality for biodiversity.

Results/Conclusions

CSF can mobilize in an ecologically sustainable way more wood from Mediterranean forests. CSF type of management does not have a strong effect concerning the total carbon stock in growing trees compared to current forest management practices and significantly contributes to stock carbon by promoting long-lived wood products. When implementing a CSF approach, the area affected by large forest fires is slightly reduced, and we could also estimate a higher overall survival probability of the trees affected by fires, especially in those areas with harsh climatic conditions for growth. The reduction of forest biomass through more extensive sylvicultural treatments strongly contributes to producing more blue water, which is essential in Mediterranean countries. Finally, whereas there are no significant changes concerning tree diversity, CSF increases forest structural diversity and results in a larger proportion of large diameter trees. In conclusion, when higher harvesting levels are combined with efficient forest product utilization, that means, substantially boosting the production of long-living wood products, it may strongly contribute to climate change mitigation, circular bioeconomy, and the provisioning of multiple ecosystems services, compared to reducing harvesting levels with the exclusive aim of increasing forest carbon stocks.