Addressing complex risks from climate change and biodiversity loss across systems and scales: Leveraging the potential of tree-based solutions for adaptation in Europe (Trees4Adapt)

Climate change and biodiversity loss are interdependent crises, but knowledge gaps on their interplays prevent effective risk assessment and solutions. Trees4Adapt will:

1) enhance empirical understanding of climate change, biodiversity loss, their interdependencies, and how these influence risks

2) develop evidence-informed tools and solutions that build climate resilience and support biodiversity at the same time.

We focus particularly on tree-based solutions, which are nature-based solutions involving trees that promise to safeguard the EU by delivering cross-sectoral benefits, if we better tailor their design and implementation.

Trees4Adapt combines field-quantified understanding from multi-national research platforms and case studies representative of boreal, temperate, and Mediterranean biomes with novel bioeconomic modelling and high-resolution modelling and mapping of complex risks. Our activities operate from the plot- to EU-level, with interdisciplinary models developed during the project integrating the scale-dependent findings.

Trees4Adapt applies co-creational approaches, and key stakeholders - including public administration and authorities - from the local- to EU levels will actively guide, inform and participate in the project. This will ensure the outputs of our research are useable, custom-made to stakeholders’ specific needs, and result in changes in decision-making and other impact in relation to recognized societal needs and key EU and global policy priorities including the Adaptation, Forest, and Biodiversity Strategies.

Trees4Adapt’s consortium consists of leading experts on climate change science, ecosystems and land use changes, nature-based solutions, transdisciplinary and participatory research, bioeconomics, environmental policy, risk assessment and modelling.

Partner institutions are located across 10 countries, including:

o Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) – Coordinator

o Ghent University (Belgium)

o University of Wurzburg (Germany)

o International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (Austria)

o Prospex Institute (Belgium)

o Finnish Meteorological Institute (Finland)

o University of Freiburg (Germany)

o Royal Holloway and Bedford New College (UK)

o University of Lisbon (Portugal)

o ERINN Innovation (Ireland)