MOSAIC: Managing protective forests facing climate change compound events

Situation

Climate change (CC) is undeniably responsible for an increase in climate-related disasters. The European Environment Agency states that all EU regions face important economic losses and fatalities from weather/climate extremes. These extreme events are often the results of compound events, which are a combination of multiple climate hazards that contribute to societal/environmental risk. Forests can play a critical role in the mitigation of CC, but at the same time, CC is threatening their health and condition. In the Alpine region, forests are a key element for protecting human beings/infrastructures against natural hazards. However, to be effective for both risk protection and CC adaptation services, forests need to be climate resilient. Thus, action plans based on adaptation and not only reaction are required. As natural/climate-related disasters do not stop at regional/national borders, an Alpine wide harmonized framework is needed for facing this challenge. For this reason, the objectives of the project MOSAIC are that : 1) atlases and data on Alpine past climate-related disasters are collected, harmonized and shared; 2) the past evolution trends are quantified for evaluating the future ones according to IPCC scenarios; 3) natural risk models integrate effects of climate compound events on trees/forests; and that 4) the awareness of practitioners, decision-makers and the public for CC impacts on protective forests is raised.