CSDs-FOR: Critical spatial dimensions for climate-resilient Nordic forests
Coordinator: Francisco Aguilar, francisco.aguilar@slu.se, SLU
Photo: FX Aguilar
Our SNS network includes colleagues from Sweden (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences), Norway (Norway Inland University of Applied Sciences), Finland (Finnish Meteorological Institute/LUKE), Denmark (University of Copenhagen), Germany (Thünen Institute of Forestry) and Argentina (Universidad Nacional de Misiones).
Our network was established in 2023 with the long-term aim to advise Nordic forest planning and policy on the identification of socio-ecological hotspots vulnerable to forest damage. The advice will underpin the importance of formally including spatial information in the adoption of management activities that can reduce the vulnerability of Nordic forests to fire, flood, pests and pathogens. We strive to expand these applied research efforts to enhance forests climate resilience in other regions sharing similar conditions, risks and vulnerabilities.
One of our specific goals is to launch a working group of Ph.D. students and junior researchers, with senior researchers as advisors and role models, whose research will benefit from new expertise in spatial analyses. This group has initiated work on an Opinion paper to stress the strengths and weaknesses of spatial data and analyses to help identify socio-ecological climate hotspots. Our network will meet and hold an internal workshop on Spatial Statistical Analysis in conjunction with the 2023 meeting of the International Boreal Forest Research Association in Helsinki.