Sobre

Project Objectives

PLURIFOR aims to help with the development of regional and transnational risk management plans for forest areas susceptible to biotic and abiotic hazards.

The project will focus on the risks posed by:

Chestnut gall wasp

Eucalyptus weevil

Fusarium

Pinewood Nematode

Emerging pests and diseases

Forest fire

Soil degradation

Storms

The project comprises 11 partners and 21 associate partners, uniting research institutes, universities, forest related organisations (unions, associations, services) and regional governments and councils from the Interreg Sudoe countries of Portugal, Spain and France.

The focus is on incorporating the latest scientific understanding of hazards to forests in the south-west of Europe into the civil planning mechanisms for dealing with these hazards and their impacts. It involves a direct transfer of knowledge between partner countries and partner institutions working alongside each other to develop evidence-based and up to date risk management plans.

The Planted Forests Facility (formerly EFIATLANTIC, the Atlantic European regional office of the European Forest Institute), is providing guidance and direction for the project, having previously coordinated the Interreg Sudoe IV project FORRISK on forest risk management.

PLURIFOR kicked off with a meeting in Pierroton, France, on 12th July 2016 and will last until June 2019.

Plurifor Project

Background

Forests cover more than 30% of the area of France, Spain and Portugal. Their conservation is vital, not only in terms of biodiversity and quality of life of society, but also in terms of the diverse economic activities associated with them.

They are regularly subject to a variety of biotic and abiotic hazards, such as insect and fungal attack in the former case, and storms, fire and soil alteration in the latter. These cause increasing damage as a result of global change, which goes beyond administrative borders.

The project therefore aims to help the project regions prepare for these increasing risks and to facilitate cooperation between the various organisations in each administrative area that is in charge of risk prevention and management. It will do this by continuing the work of FORRISK and improve existing or create new forest risk management tools and plans.

Approach

The project started by identifying the needs of partners from regional forest services in terms of risk management and transnational workshops are organised in order to complete this information.

In collaboration with the project’s associate partners, the partners will develop tools (cartography, insect traps, surveillance methods, management techniques, etc.), which will then be integrated into existing risk management plans or new plans will be created to accommodate them.

These new or improved plans will then be tested validated and presented to technical staff who will apply them between the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019. As soon as the first versions are available, citizens will be invited to consult and comment on the proposed plans.

As a result of these actions and tools, each participant region will benefit from the experience, means and knowledge reaped and pooled transnationally in South-West Europe.