MOTIVE “MOdels for AdapTIVE Forest Management“ is an EU-funded Seventh Framework environmental project addressing forest management and climate change.
Summary
The Forestry Commission manages forests in England, Scotland and Wales for multiple objectives. MOTIVE will develop ways to balance climate change considerations with these objectives. The photograph shows a stand in Gwydyr forest in North Wales.
What is multiple-objective Forestry?
Sustainable forest management needs to deliver multiple objectives that can include the economic benefits of timber production, environmental benefits such as carbon sequestration, biodiversity and water quality, and social benefits such as recreation, public health and community involvement. International, national and local policies on the management of forests can alter the balance between these and other objectives. However, the implementation of forest policy depends ultimately on the practicalities of local site and environmental conditions, as well as local stakeholder needs.
How will climate change affect multiple-objective forestry?
Climate change is expected to affect the growth and survival of our forest tree species. The suitability of tree species for growth in forests will change over the next century, and this trend will vary by site and region across England, Scotland and Wales. At the same time risks to the forests, such as from wind, frost, drought, pests and diseases, will alter.
The research being carried out within MOTIVE will develop methodologies to help foresters adapt current management practices to balance multiple-objectives under a changing climate.
Objectives
The ultimate objective of the MOTIVE project is to ‘provide insights, data and tools to improve policy making and adaptive forest resource management in the face of rapidly changing climatic and land-use conditions’.
MOTIVE is organised into six scientific work packages in addition to a management-orientated work package:
- Baseline trends and possible futures for the EU
- Development of improved models for Adaptive Forest Management (AFM)
- Testing and evaluating management options and risks
- Evaluating and selecting good adaptive forest management strategies
- Improved decision support in adaptive forest management
- Stakeholder and decision maker interaction and dissemination
Outputs
One of the main deliverables of MOTIVE will be an Adaptive Forest Management (AFM) toolbox. The toolbox will provide up-to-date methods for planning and decision making in AFM for use by forest managers and policy makers in strategic and tactical forest management planning.
Forest Research's contribution to MOTIVE
Forest Research contributes to all parts of the MOTIVE project, leads activities on ‘Assessment of abiotic and biotic risks’ and ‘Stakeholder interactions’, and will work, in particular, on growth and risk modelling and social science tasks within the project.
Forest Research activities are focused on a ‘Regional case study’ of forest areas of Wales. This is one of 10 regional case-studies across Europe that cover major forest types and bioclimatic regions within the EU. This case study will initially concentrate on using available tools and models to help integrate climate change adaptation into local forest planning in Gwydr and Clocaenog forests in North Wales.
Funders and partners
Forest Research is one of 20 European partners in MOTIVE and the only partner from the UK. Other partners are research institutes and universities from Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
MOTIVE is a European Commission Seventh Framework project (FP7-ENV-2008-1). Forest Research activities in this project are 75% funded by EC and 25% funded by the Forestry Commission.
Status
The project will run for 4 years, finishing in 2013.
Contact
For further information please contact:
Bruce Nicoll
Forest Research
Centre for Forest Resources and Management
Northern Research Station
Roslin
Midlothian EH25 9SY
Tel: +44 (0) 131 445 6940
Fax: +44 (0) 131 445 5124
Email: bruce.nicoll@forestry.gsi.gov.uk
Project website: www.motive-project.net
