Planning and managing Europe’s forests in a time of climate change

Climate tower at the Hainich Research Station Photo: Anne Klosterhalfen Researchers from the Bioclimatology Group at Göttingen University participate in European project Forests can have an important role in mitigating the climate crisis. Further, they are habitats for a variety of plants and animals, are used for timber production, and offer opportunities for local tourists. However, forests are complex networks that require careful planning and management. Researchers from the Bioclimatology Group at the University of Göttingen are involved in a new European project that brings together the latest research, data, modelling methods and forest management techniques to support forests in Europe. Dr Anne Klosterhalfen Photo: Anne Klosterhalfen A total of 18 organisations from all over Europe are participating in the CLIMB-FOREST project, which the European Union has funded as part of the Horizon Europe programme for a period of four and a half years. One of the partners is the Bioclimatology Group at the Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology at the University of Göttingen. The Göttingen researchers want to investigate how forest structure, for example the species composition and age distribution of trees, affects biophysical processes.