While also increasing their economic profitability
Author: DUVI Pontevedra, Univesidade de Vigo 22/01/2025
Promoting forest owners’ cooperation to enable collective management of Galician forests would not only increase the economic profitability of timber exploitation but also improve the resilience of tree stands against wildfires. This is the main conclusion of a study conducted by researchers from the School of Forestry Engineering within the framework of the European project RESONATE, which aims to define strategies to enhance the resilience and adaptability of European forests to the effects of climate change. The research, coordinated by Juan Picos and Laura Alonso, sought to compare the “standard management” of Galician forests—characterized by numerous small parcels—with the potential outcomes of “an association of forest owners.” In all analyzed scenarios, they explain, there would be an increase in the economic profitability of timber exploitation and the associated value chain, while also reducing the impact of fires and the cost of restoring forests after a wildfire.
“This would involve a much more continuous type of management, ensuring reserves and making impacts more easily recoverable, even considering the uncertainty of the climate scenario,” Picos notes regarding the results of the “modeling work” conducted by simulating different climate scenarios. For this analysis, they studied approximately 2,000 hectares in the municipalities of Outes and Negreira in the province of A Coruña, an area that is “highly fragmented” with around 15,000 parcels.
The results of this study, which Alonso and Picos recently presented at a RESONATE meeting in Bonn, Germany, are part of a series of case studies developed within the Horizon Europe 2020-funded project, which received nearly five million euros in funding. Coordinated by the European Forest Institute (EFI), RESONATE involves 20 institutions and organizations from twelve countries, including the Universidade de Vigo, with the goal of generating knowledge and practices to make forests, the services they provide, and related economic activities more resilient to climate-related changes and disturbances. Under this project, different case studies were carried out, focusing on the effects of drought, storms, biodiversity loss, or, in the case coordinated by the researchers from the School of Forestry Engineering, “the one we consider our most important disturbance, which is wildfires,” and the value chain of pine.
Two Models, Three Scenarios
To quantify “how much a given forest area can improve if managed by an association of owners,” Picos and Alonso carried out a series of simulations, comparing the current scenario of “very basic forestry”—in which about 30% of the tree stands are abandoned—with a “joint management” model. Specifically, the simulations were based on a management plan aimed at developing more professional forestry, which would allow for maritime pine (Pinus pinaster) of different ages, preventive forestry and improvement thinning, and the reforestation of over 400 hectares with broadleaf species, “mainly in riparian areas and near inhabited areas.” These two models were compared under the current climate scenario as well as under two climate change scenarios defined by the IPCC, and in all cases, the group management model resulted in greater profitability, with economic balances up to four times higher.
This increase, Alonso explains, is partly because “this type of management produces higher technological quality timber,” which fetches higher market prices. Additionally, as Picos points out, a balanced distribution of trees of different ages allows for consistent timber supply and harvests.
Through simulations, Picos and Alonso also compared the effects of the same type of wildfire in the three climate scenarios, confirming that the burned area was smaller in all cases with group management and that the cost of recovery was lower. Specifically, they estimated that the cost of restoring the analyzed area under the current management model would exceed 1.4 million euros, whereas under the collective management model, it would be less than 800,000 euros. Additionally, Alonso adds, this model would also contribute to the protection of this area by allowing for more broadleaf forests in strategic areas, which would reduce wildfire vulnerability while also benefiting biodiversity.
At this point, Picos recalls that RESONATE’s goal was to analyze the “socio-ecological” resilience of forests, highlighting the broader benefits of this approach—not only ensuring more profitable production but also generating higher added value, creating more jobs, and increasing economic returns for the sector, while simultaneously reducing the impacts of wildfires.
Bringing the Findings to Stakeholders
After presenting their findings at the RESONATE meeting, Picos and Alonso are now analyzing the cost of adapting to this model, as “we are talking about a much larger association than what we are normally used to.” Beyond publishing their results in scientific journals, the researchers also plan to hold a series of presentations with various institutions and stakeholders in Galicia and Portugal.
Find the original press release here.
