Context

The mountainous region of Pinzgau is part of the federal province of Salzburg. The district covers an area of 2,640km^2 and is home to over 80,000 inhabitants in 28 municipalities. The total forest area is 118,000 ha, of which about 44% is dedicated protection forest.

Mountain forests provide many different ecosystem services. They help to control natural hazards and thus protect homes and landscapes. In addition, by improving water and air quality, they control the local microclimate and benefit the quality of life. They also allow the conservation of biodiversity and habitat. However, their vulnerability to climate change is a concern regarding their conservation and the ecosystem services they provide.

In recent years, it has been observed that reforestation and rejuvenation measures after natural disasters carried out with maintenance strategies on protection forests have been the most relevant to their conservation.

The initiative

This study financed by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, focuses on soil and flood protection measures in mountain forestry and its impact on rural vitality. It aims to analyse the quality and quantity of ecosystem services and to find alternatives to the current regulatory regime.

The environmental and social objectives of this initiative are:
–  Ensuring the protective function of forests against natural hazards (floods, mudslides and landslides) in a context of decreasing funds allocated to public action, and increasing natural hazards and climate change impacts
–  Improving the social and economic vitality (including ecological stability) of the region

Results, limits and enable factors

Climate change adaptation strategies have been carried out. One of the recommendations is to extend the zoning of protection forests with the support of technical protection measures. It was advised to focus quickly on strengthening and preserving forest stands with important protective functions, especially in high risk areas.
In Austrian mountain areas, the study showed that local stakeholders and a large part of the local population put pressure on political bodies to support and improve interventions.

The Pegasus program has highlighted the difficulty of financing the maintenance of protection forest, which is increasingly dependent on public financial support, as well as the existence of a consensus at regional and national level on the need for sufficient protection forests and their beneficial functions for nature, habitat, society and the local economy.