Acronym: MOSAIC

Title: Managing prOtective foreSt fAcIng clImate Change compound events

Call: Interreg Alpine Space

Duration: (01/11/ 22 – 31/10/25) 36 months

Coordinator: INRAE Institute National de Recherche pour L’Agricolture, l’Alimentation et l’ Environment

Total EU Contribution: 2.710.832,00 €

TESAF Budget: 220.200,00 €

Responsible Scientific Officer/Investigator: Emanuele Lingua

Research Team: Emanuele Lingua, Lorenzo Faes

Brief description: Climate change (CC) is undeniably responsible for the increase in climate-related disasters. The EU Environment Agency states that the EU region experienced substantial economic losses (1980-2020: € 460 billion) and fatalities (1980-2020: 89525) from climate-related extremes. These phenomena are often the result of compound events, a combination of multiple climate-related hazards that contribute to socio-ecological risks. This innovative concept integrates small- to large-scale events for fully assessing CC induced risks to support adaptation actions and policies. Forests provide essential ecosystem services that support human well-being and play a critical role in the mitigation of CC, but their health and stability are also threatened by CC. Therefore, hazard-resilient and sustainable forest management is key for managing climate-related risks. In the Alpine region, forests are a key element for protecting people and assets against natural hazards. However, to be effective as an Ecosystem-based solution for Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco-DRR), forests need to be resilient to CC requiring action rather than reaction plans. As climate-related disasters do not stop at national borders, an Alpine-wide harmonised framework is needed. Action plans therefore require that: 1) atlases and data on historic and current Alpine climate-related disasters are collected, harmonised, shared, 2) trends in climate-related events including forest disturbances (e.g., forest fires, storms, pest outbreaks) are quantified for evaluating the future along most probable IPCC scenarios, 3) natural hazard risk models integrate effects of climate-related compound events on forests, and 4) awareness among foresters, risk managers, decision makers and the public is increased through an Alpine network of forest living labs.

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