We are happy to announce the release of the first episodes in a series of videos about RESILIENT FORESTS, filmed during a trip to the Parc Natural Sierra Calderona, (Valencia) in held in March 2019. In these videos IIAMA Researchers María González Sanchis and Antonio Del Campo guide us across the Parc, showing the effects of recurring droughts and pests occurring to the local forests when they are not managed and how a sustainable management of forest resources can help to increase their resilience, while creating opportunities for the local population.
Forests and climate change
The effects of climate change on forest ecosystems are becoming more and more evident around the world. Climate change is increasing droughts in many parts of Europe and is making forests ecosystems less resilient to disturbances. This severely affects the availability of water resources for both urban populations and for agriculture. During the last 30 years, the total area affected by water scarcity and droughts doubled in the EU, causing economic losses for 100 billion Euro. Coordinated by Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, the LIFE RESILIENT FORESTS project promotes a forest management approach at the watershed scale to improve forests resilience to wildfires, water scarcity, and other effects induced by climate change.
In this episode – The Riverbed
One of the tangible effects of climate change can be observed in rainfalls, which are becoming less frequent and more intense, particularly in Mediterranean areas such as the region of Valencia. Riverbeds can be completely dry for the most part of the year, except for the short periods when they are invested by floods due to high intensity rainfalls. Increasing the water retention capacity of watersheds is vital to adapt to these changing conditions. This starts with adopting a sustainable management of forests to make, since what happens to surface and groundwaters up in the mountains directly affects the availability of water resources for urban populations and agriculture in the valleys below.