Studying the effects of climate change, both in urban and natural spaces, is of vital importance when making adaptation policies. For it, three forests on the peninsula will be converted into natural laboratories for a year in order to evaluate and study the impacts of climate change and the vulnerability of pine forests in Spain.
In order to better adapt forests and natural environments to climate change, their study and evaluation are necessary. Do you want to know more about what studies are going to be carried out in our forests?
Forests as laboratories
The forests of Valsaín (Segovia), Cazorla (Jaén) and Barrantes (Pontevedra), located at very different altitudes and with very different climatic conditions, have been selected to carry out a project that will assess environmental impacts and how to apply practices that help reduce their vulnerability to climate change.
These three forests chosen for the research are FSC certified. This is a seal that accredits them as those mountains that are managed correctly and whose management is compatible with the conservation of natural resources as well as biodiversity.
The technical director of FSC, Silvia Martínez, has indicated that the conclusions that will be obtained in the study of climate change in these forests improve the management of forest masses for better adaptation. In addition, with the results obtained, not only can the adaptation plans be applied to the selected forests, but they can also be extrapolated to the entire forest area.
Spaces of the Natura 2000 Network
The three chosen areas stand out for the good forest management that has historically been carried out in them and for being also very emblematic and popular places. The Valsaín Mountains are included in the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park; Mount Navahonda in the Sierras de Cazorla, Segura and Las Villas Natural Park; and the mountains of Barrantes are "neighbors in common hands", a figure deeply rooted in Galician culture and that has been decisive from the social, economic and environmental point of view.
In addition, Valsaín and Navahonda are included in the list of the Network of Protected Natural Areas, Nature 2000.