D1.3 Decision rules, parameters, and narratives for modelling

Summary
This deliverable reports the findings from three activities undertaken in WP1, namely a
large-scale survey (T1.2.3), workshops in 4 Demo cases to exchange knowledge and codesign climate and biodiversity forest management practices (T1.2.2), and the analysis
of repeated NFI data to derive forest management approaches (T1.1.2). In this deliverable
the summaries of findings for narratives, decision rules and parameters for modelling are
described.
The survey targeted forest practitioners across Europe to elicit information about (i) forest
holdings, (ii) ongoing forest management activities, (iii) forest practitioners’ views on
forest management activities, and (iv) forest owners’ views on financial compensation
towards alternative climate and biodiversity smart forestry practices. In this survey
research, forest practitioners were defined as individuals who either own a forest or
manage a forest or segment of a forest on behalf of a public or private entity. The survey
was deployed through a polling agency across thirteen European countries: Croatia,
Czechia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain,
Switzerland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom (n=2151). The survey responses were
analysed by developing five forest practitioner typologies through K-means clustering.
The resulting groups were profiled using multivariate statistics, chi-squares, and
descriptive statistics. Analysis of a large-scale survey in 13 European countries resulted
in the development of a forest practitioner typology that classify owners based on their
values towards different forest management objectives. The typology resulted in five
distinct groups dubbed environmentally conscious passives, environmental
implementers, traditionalist, maximisers, and societal satisfiers.
This deliverable reports findings from the workshops with forest owners, managers, and
local forestry experts conducted in the four Demo Cases, namely Italy, Finland, Romania,
and The Netherlands, to exchange knowledge about their perceptions on suitable Climate
and Biodiversity (CBS) forest management practices and on climate change risks and
impacts for the forest sector, as well as to better understand the factors constraining and
enabling the implementation of CBS forest management in specific contexts. Forest practitioners participating in the workshops in the 4 Demo cases considered that
increasing mixed tree species, leaving deadwood in the forest, reduce deer/moose
population were suitable climate and biodiversity forest management practices for their
regions because these are already being implemented and less implementation barriers
exist. Other CBS forest management practices include planting fast-growing species such
as Douglas fir (The Netherlands), the use of the principle of sustained yield to ensure
continuous presence of all stages of development (the shifting steady-state mosaic)
(Romania), active management and implementation of fire breaks (Sardinia, Italy), or
continuous cover forestry for forest regeneration (Finland). There was a consensus
among the workshop participants about the increasing risks of climate change and about
the observed impacts of climate change in the forest. Current policies were considered
as the main factor constraining the implementation of CBS forest management by
workshop participants.
Finally, the deliverable reports on the annual probability of thinning and clear-felling by
country and biogeographic region. This was estimated by analysing repeated NFI data in
more detail aiming at extracting the required parameters for the rule-based harvesting
module of EFISCEN-Space. The analysis reveals three broad harvesting types in Europe.
The first type is connected to the dominant clearcut system in Scandinavia and the
intensive plantations along the Atlantic coast. The second type is characterized by low
management intensity in areas with severe restrictions due to climate and/or topography,
such as Alpine and Mediterranean regions. The third type contains a variety of silvicultural
systems in the Atlantic and Continental zones in Western and Central Europe, like multipurpose forests in densely populated areas as well as production forests with long
rotations. Within these broad types, there is considerable country-by-country variation. In
this deliverable the summaries of findings for narratives, decision rules and parameters
for modelling are described.