Forests are under growing pressure to meet society's needs while coping with increasingly frequent and severe climate change impacts.
Resilient forest ecosystems are therefore critical to sustaining the many benefits that forests provide. Biodiversity makes forests more resilient, helping them withstand and recover from disturbances such as droughts, storms, pests, and wildfires.
To secure a stable wood provision, it will be crucial for the forest-based sector to prioritise embedding biodiversity and climate resilience as core components of sustainable forest management.
Forests are expected to deliver more than ever before, from providing renewable raw materials and storing carbon to conserving biodiversity, protecting water and soils, supporting recreation, and enhancing resilience to climate change. No single forest can maximise all these services simultaneously; there will always be trade-offs. The challenge is to manage these trade-offs wisely through science-based decision-making.
A new study presented by TEAMING UP 4 FORESTS (TU4F), Productive and Biodiverse: Managing Europe's Forests for Economic and Ecological Outcomes, examines how forest management can support both economic and ecological goals. "The study is drawing on scientific evidence from a broad range of disciplines. This evidence shows that productive forestry and biodiversity conservation are not competing goals, but complementary objectives that reinforce the long-term resilience, productivity, and societal value of forests," says study chair Frank Krumm of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL). Protecting and enhancing biodiversity is therefore not only an environmental responsibility, but also a strategic investment in the forests' future productivity and stability.
"The key transition is not only towards more diverse and climate-adapted tree species, but also towards new management approaches. Diverse, locally adapted forest management can support wood production, maintain biodiversity, and strengthen resilience to climate change. Success depends on retaining structural elements such as habitat trees and deadwood across the landscape, combined with coordinated monitoring and management that is flexible enough to respond to a changing climate," explains co-author Andreea Spinu, University of Freiburg, Germany.
