Climate smart solutions for enhanced biodiversity through increased presence of broadleaved trees in landscape

Europe-wide and national policy documents emphasize the necessity to maintain and increase climate change mitigation effect and biodiversity. Both of these goals in the Program area primarily are linked to changes of land use type (afforestation) and/or management regime. Considering the necessity to ensure bioeconomy as the backbone of employment (thus maintenance of the population of the area), as well as the land/forest ownership structure, the suitable way to ensure the policy targets are reached, is via information (developing and providing guidelines and tools) and demonstration, inducing changes in decision making, that would lead to increasing biodiversity values in managed stands (or ensure reaching the same values in shorter time period). Afforestation and forest regeneration by planting in the Program area is dominated by spruce, increasing risks of large-scale disturbances in future and relatively low biodiversity. Thus solutions for climate-smart establishment of new regeneration of forests are important to reduce these risks, increasing resilience, adaptation and biodiversity. Such solutions are topical due to planned larger-scale afforestation efforts (to mitigate climate changes) and increasing pace of climate changes (increasing risks). Aim of the Project is to join the effort of Estonia and Latvia to develop climate-smart solutions of afforestation and forest regeneration for preserving and increasing biodiversity, primarily focusing on planted broadleaved trees. Main Project output will be developed solutions in form of policy recommendations, important to support the establishment of stands with increased biodiversity, practical recommendations of form of guidelines and application, where suitable options for establishment of such stands can be determined, based on conditions, charactering the site and the aims.