Scientists look into resilience of mountain forest ecosystems

"The project’s purpose is to investigate the drivers and extent of contemporary and future environmental changes in European mountain forests

Up to fifty researchers from 25 European countries will gather at the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen to discuss ways to enhance the resilience capacity of sensitive mountain forest ecosystems under environmental change.

The workshop, part of the SENSFOR project - an action of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology framework – will focus on scenarios, stakeholder engagement and knowledge exchange, aspects of the project that are coordinated from the James Hutton Institute’s Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences (SEGS) group.

Professor Maria Nijnik, senior researcher at the Institute’s SEGS group and leader of Working Group 3 of SENSFOR, said: “We look forward to hosting our European colleagues. The workshop will be linked and complemented with our research carried out under the Scottish Government’s Rural Affairs and the Environment Strategic Research Programme (2011–2016) and with the Ecosystem Services Community (ESCOM) activities.

“We expect to have up to 50 international participants; representatives from the ESCOM Central and a wider Ecosystem Community of Scotland will also be invited to attend this event.”

SENSFOR aims at integrating scientific methods and results related to biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of natural resources under climate and land use change. The project’s purpose is to investigate the drivers and extent of contemporary and future environmental changes in European mountain forests, developing methods for estimating their resilience and define consequences for society.

Information about SENSFOR is available at the project websiteand from the COST website. COST is supported by the EU Framework Programme Horizon 2020.