After a three-year long work of trans-alpine cooperation, the MANFRED Partnership gatheredto sum up, analyze and foster public debate on the results achieved with a Final Conference on 28th June 2012, at the Food and Agriculture Organization–FAO headquarters in Rome.

The conference “The Future Potential of European Mountain Forests: challenges and solutions between Green Economy and Climate Change”, was organized jointly by the Italian Ministry for the Environment, the Institute for Timber Plants and Environment of Turin, the Forest Research Institute of Baden-Wuerttemberg and the whole MANFRED Partnership, and was hosted and facilitated by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat - FAO.

The event dealt with the future of the European mountain forests as linked to the challenges of climate change and the opportunity of a green economy. Climate change isexpected of modifying their appearance and functions, especially in the Alpine region owing to land use changes, increase of pest infestations and extreme events.

What are then, in terms of eco-engineering and other interventions, the strategies that can help to sustainably adapt to those changes, taking note of the social and economic functions performed by mountain forests?

The Conference, attended by more than 70 participants from around and outside the Alps, enshrined the project results in the broader perspective of the approaches undertaken at the international level with regard to forest issues, also thanks to the participation of a high-level panel of speakers from international institutions involved in forestry.

To get more insights on the contents and the outputs of the event, click on each speaker’s presentation title below:

• Welcome statements of the organizers (Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea, FAO-Mountain Partnership Secretariat, Alpine Space Programme – Joint Technical Secretariat)

 

• The Mountain territories perspective for the implementation of the EU forest strategy (E. Borghi, President, Italian National Union of Mountain Towns and Communities, UNCEM)

 

• Background, goals and expectations from the MANFRED Project: management strategies to adapt Alpine Space forests to climate change (M. Hanewinkel, Swiss Federal Institute for Forests, Snow and Landscape Research – WSL / Forest Research Institute of Baden-Wuerttemberg)

 

• Mountain Forests in a Changing World (T. Hofer, FAO – Forest Assessment, Management and Conservation Division)

 

• Communicating climate change adaptation for the forest sector: The MANFRED experience between scientific and policy-making challenges (P. Angelini, Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea)

 

• Climate change, air pollution and mountain vegetation: impacts, scenarios and policy perspectives (A. Ballarin Denti, Working Group on Effects, UNECE-CLRTAP)

 

• The Alpine Convention “Mountain Forest Protocol” (F. Näscher, Liechtenstein Ministry for Environmental Affairs, Land Use Planning, Agriculture and Forestry, Liechtenstein Head of Delegation for the Alpine Convention)

 

• Climate and land use change scenarios for adaptation of mountain forests in Europe: a focus on the strategies adopted in the Alps and the Carpathians (R. Nowicki, Senior Inspector, Ministry for the Environment, Poland, Chair- Carpathian Convention Working Group on Sustainable Forest Management)

 

• Future climate and land use scenarios in the Alpine forests (N. Zimmermann, Swiss Federal Institute for Forests, Snow and Landscape Research, WSL)

 

• Adapting Alpine Forests to climate change – Risk assessment for abiotic and biotic hazards (H. Griess, Bavarian Forest Institute – LWF)

 

• Extreme events in Alpine forests: census and Web-Gis Platform (S. Oliveri, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Faculty of Brescia Department of Mathematics and Physics “N. Tartaglia”)

 

• Eco-engineering and natural risks mitigation in the Alps towards the adaptation to climate change (F. Berger, CEMAGREF)

 

• The MANFRED Results and guidelines to Adaptive management (R. Jandl, Austrian Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests, Natural Hazards and Landscape, BFW)

 

• Mountain forests and assessment of the ecosystem services: the MANFRED challenge to quantify the ozone removal by a high elevation mountain forest: a case study (G. Gerosa, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Faculty of Brescia Department of Mathematics and Physics “N. Tartaglia”)

 

• Highlights from the Rio+20 Conference: a focus on Mountain Forests and their functions (P. Soprano, Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea)
• Assessing the potential of European forests sector to meet emerging challenges: the UNECE/FAO European Forest Sector Outlook Study II 2010-2030 (D. Ellul, UNECE\FAO Forestry and Timber section)