The forests of southern Europe face growing climate risks, worsened by rural abandonment and lack of management. Droughts, pests, wildfires, desertification and biodiversity loss are among the most pressing challenges. The transnational project SocialForest seeks to enhance the resilience of these forested areas to climate impacts while fostering the socioeconomic development of rural regions.
To achieve these objectives, the nine partners of the SocialForest project have conducted research for application in different pilot sites across Spain, France and Portugal. The combination of decision-support software, remote sensing, sensors and outreach strategies aimed at landowners not directly involved with their forests are among the measures already being implemented, showing that sound forest management is the best way to strengthen the forest ecosystems of southern Europe.
The pilot actions
In the Region of Murcia, the project is implementing two pioneering actions in the Sierra de Burete (CehegÃn) and in the municipality of Moratalla. The first, a pine forest within the Natura 2000 Network, will serve as a natural laboratory to study how silvicultural treatments can influence groundwater availability—a key factor in the resilience of Mediterranean forests. In Moratalla, actions focus on two plots affected by wildfires: one previously managed and the other unmanaged. Comparing both will provide first-hand insight into the effects of different forest management practices under extreme events such as fire.
In Toledo, the focus is on the dehesa, the unique mosaic of holm oaks and cork oaks that defines much of the Iberian landscape. Here, the challenge lies in strengthening these species’ adaptive capacity to climate change by combining prevention and control measures to reduce wildfire risk and preserve the rich biodiversity of this traditional ecosystem.
Further north, in Soria, the project embraces social innovation as a tool to revitalise abandoned forests. Through community participation and new forest health assessment methodologies, it aims to reactivate sustainable forest management while creating social and economic opportunities in rural areas.
In Portugal, pilot actions are located in Mértola and Barrancos (within the Noudar Natural Park), two areas of the Alentejo particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Efforts are focused on mitigating the impact of global warming on the holm oak ecosystem, strengthening the mountain’s adaptive capacity. Activities include restoring productive potential (pastures, aromatic and medicinal plants, and tree cover) and improving forest health.
Finally, in France’s Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, the initiative collaborates with two leading forest-sector organisations to address integrated wildfire risk management. One line of work focuses on early fire detection, while the other promotes post-fire regeneration through biofertilisers that accelerate and strengthen the growth of young plants.
An Interreg SUDOE project
The SocialForest project, aimed at combating the impacts of climate change in forest areas across the SUDOE space, is co-financed by the Interreg Programme through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) within the Interreg SUDOE 2021–2027 framework.
It brings together nine partners from Spain, Portugal and France: Regional Government of Murcia – Department of Environment, Universities, Research and Mar Menor, Directorate-General for Natural Heritage and Climate Action; Associação para o Estudo e Defesa do Património Natural e Cultural do Concelho de Mértola; Universitat Politècnica de València – Department of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering; INRAE Centre Nouvelle-Aquitaine-Bordeaux, UMR 1391 ISPA; Asociación Forestal de Soria (ASFOSO); Université Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier, Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, Géosciences Environnement Toulouse, UMR 5563; Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha – Department of Sustainable Development, Directorate-General for Natural Environment and Biodiversity; EDIA – Empresa de Desenvolvimento e Infra-estruturas do Alqueva; and Xylofutur.
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