Publications

More than 50 percent of the Russian forest inventory was updated more than 25 years ago. The consequence is that most of the existing forest inventory is outdated. Human and environmental forest disturbances continuously affect changes of forest cover and biomass stocks. The magnitude and extent of ongoing environmental pressures (e.g., forest fragmentation and the impact of global climate change) and the loss rates of particular habitat types is unknown. The aim of the paper is to provide an integrated concept for the monitoring and assessment of forest resources, as demonstrated for Central Siberia in the framework of the ZAPAS project and the Siberian Earth System Science Cluster (SIB-ESS-C). Regional and local scale in-situ and multi-agency satellite data were analyzed to generate biomass and forest cover change maps at local scales which were validated with up-to-date forest inventory data. At regional scales a synergy map of land cover and biomass information was developed. Annual PALSAR backscatter data proved to be applicable for local scale forest biomass monitoring and reforestation assessment. The forest resource maps were integrated in a data middleware system to provide Web-based analyses interoperability, data access of multi-scale forest resource maps to local stakeholders, and decision support for regional and local forest management in Central Siberia.

No abstract is provided for this article.

The uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) by terrestrial ecosystems is critical for moderating climate change1. To provide a ground-based long-term assessment of the contribution of forests to terrestrial CO2 uptake, we synthesized in situ forest data from boreal, temperate and tropical biomes spanning three decades. We found that the carbon sink in global forests was steady, at 3.6 ± 0.4 Pg C yr−1 in the 1990s and 2000s, and 3.5 ± 0.4 Pg C yr−1 in the 2010s. Despite this global stability, our analysis revealed some major biome-level changes. Carbon sinks have increased in temperate (+30 ± 5%) and tropical regrowth (+29 ± 8%) forests owing to increases in forest area, but they decreased in boreal (−36 ± 6%) and tropical intact (−31 ± 7%) forests, as a result of intensified disturbances and losses in intact forest area, respectively. Mass-balance studies indicate that the global land carbon sink has increased2, implying an increase in the non-forest-land carbon sink. The global forest sink is equivalent to almost half of fossil-fuel emissions (7.8 ± 0.4 Pg C yr−1 in 1990–2019). However, two-thirds of the benefit from the sink has been negated by tropical deforestation (2.2 ± 0.5 Pg C yr−1 in 1990–2019). Although the global forest sink has endured undiminished for three decades, despite regional variations, it could be weakened by ageing forests, continuing deforestation and further intensification of disturbance regimes1. To protect the carbon sink, land management policies are needed to limit deforestation, promote forest restoration and improve timber-harvesting practices1,3. Data from boreal, temperate and tropical forests over the past three decades reveal that the global forest carbon sink has remained steady during that time, despite considerable regional variation.

Boreal forests form the largest terrestrial biome globally. Climate change is expected to induce large changes in vegetation of high latitude ecosystems, but there is considerable uncertainty about where, when, and how those changes will occur. Such vegetation change produces major feedback to the climate system, including by modifying albedo (reflectivity). Our study used the LANDIS-II forest landscape model to project forest dynamics on four representative landscapes (1 M ha) for 280 years into the future under a range of climate scenarios across a broad latitudinal gradient in Siberia. The model estimated the albedo of the vegetation and any snow on each landscape grid-cell through time to quantify surface albedo change in response to climate change and disturbances. We found that the shortening of the snow-covered season (winter) decreased annual average albedo dramatically, and climate change facilitated the invasion of tundra by boreal trees in the northernmost landscape (reducing albedo in all seasons). However, in other landscapes, albedo increased in summer due to disturbances (fire, wind, insects, harvest), eliminating or reducing leaf area in the short-term, and in the mid-term by promoting more reflective forest types (deciduous, light conifers). This increased albedo was somewhat ephemeral and under climate change was overwhelmed by the shortening of the snow-covered season that greatly reduced albedo. We conclude that the primary driver of the overall reflectivity of boreal ecosystems is not vegetation, but rather, the length of the snow-covered season. Because climate change is likely to dramatically shorten the snow season, the concurrent reduction of albedo has the potential to act as a powerful positive feedback for climate change. Managing natural and anthropogenic disturbances may be the only tool with potential to mitigate the reduction of albedo by climate change in boreal ecosystems because management to encourage more reflective forest types has relatively small effect.

There is a growing awareness of the need to integrate climate and biodiversity policies. As forests play an important role in mitigating biodiversity loss and climate change, numerous countries have established goals and are managing their forests to achieve them. However, forest management measures and land prioritization may differ depending on the target chosen, leading to conflicts. This research aims to seek optimized national afforestation plans in the Republic of Korea by assessing trade-offs between plant biodiversity persistence and carbon stocks. To this end, afforestation scenarios were spatially established based on the national forest management plans, with a target of 5800 ha expansion by 2022. Generalized Dissimilarity Modeling (GDM) and Global Forest Model (G4M) were applied to the selected afforestable regions to obtain scenarios that maximize biodiversity and carbon, respectively. Furthermore, another afforestation scenario that considers both objectives equally, was proposed using spatial simulated annealing (SSA) optimization algorithm to mitigate trade-offs. The constructed scenarios were compared, both spatially and quantitatively. As a result, the maximization scenarios were found to have few overlapping areas, with both scenarios resulting in ~50% trade-offs. These findings reveal that there is no universal solution and different management strategies are needed to enhance biodiversity persistence and carbon stocks. Thus, to strike a balance among the various goals, forest management requires a compromise solution to minimize trade-offs. Our national-scale assessment can help to guide future planning of national forest management with the consideration of the joint goals of biodiversity and carbon enhancement.

The main objective of this Austria Fire Futures study is to develop a unique and innovative concept containing new sets of fire risk hotspot maps at highest spatial resolution under various climate change scenarios and integrate novel insights on local fuel types into forest and forest fire risk models, including new variables such as morphology and recreational activities. To generate such maps on a local scale, fire hazard modeling is necessary to identify endangered forest types in combination with topographic effects. Furthermore, recent fire events in the Austrian Alps show that social aspects, particularly the hiking tourism, are paid too little attention to.Based on the above motivation, we believe that an innovative and improved fire risk hotspot mapping is the fundament for all further forest- and wildfire prevention and hence needs to be seen as an indispensable tool for an integrated fire management (prevention, suppression, post fire measures) while substantially contributing to mitigating climate change as well as minimizing damage to ecosystems, their services, and people.The study will improve our understanding of fire-vulnerable forest areas that may shift over time and space given the underlying climate and fuel assumptions. This will allow experts, practitioners, and the interested public to take a look into the future in order to comprehend and derive solid short-/medium-/and long-term recommendations for fire resilient and sustainable forest management and fire emergency planning.

The aim of this report is to illustrate by means of a series of case studies the implementation of mapping and assessment of forest ecosystem services in different contexts and geographical levels. Methodological aspects, data issues, approaches, limitations, gaps and further steps for improvement are analysed for providing good practices and decision making guidance. The EU initiative on Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES), with the support of all Member States, contributes to improve the knowledge on ecosytem services. MAES is one of the building-block initiatives supporting the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2000.