Forest management and silvicultural responses to projected climate change impacts on European broadleaved trees and forests

Abstract

SUMMARY Broadleaved trees represent 37 % of the forest resource of Europe; equating to 9 % of the world's forest resource. The high number of broadleaved species (c. 80), many of which are ‘minor’, is reflected in a lack of adequate information on their distribution and state of health. Existing and projected impacts of climate change on the broadleaved resource are reviewed, as are future possible socio-economic drivers for forest management. Assisting the European forest resource and the sector to adapt to change, and to exploit opportunities, may take the form of broader species and provenance choice, new approaches to forest design, and more support for research, particularly tree breeding. Production forestry may benefit in some regions with changes in yield and the development of stronger markets for hardwoods as a substitute for tropical hardwoods or fossil fuel-derived materials in construction, and for bio-energy markets.