Context

Mountain ecosystems, and in particular forests, are extremely important for the reduction of natural hazards and risks in the Alpine region and are considered as a mean of protection. In fact, forests can offer effective protection against avalanches, rockfall and shallow soil slides. However, until now, few strategies or policies have been developed to take into account forests in risk management, to reconcile the many interests at stake, societal demands and characterize the associated costs.

The initiative

The GreenRisk4ALPs initiative aims to strengthen the protective role of forests against natural hazards such as rockfall, avalanches and shallow soils slides. To this end, the project develops, tests and implements new decision support tools for an ecosystem-based risk management of natural hazards and climate impacts in the Alpine space.

The first step is to collect and process the necessary information in the context of climate, forest and natural hazards. The second step is to implement innovative ecosystem and forestry-based natural risk management, formulating recommendations and guidelines adapted to local practical, socio-economic, scientific and political needs.

The main challenge is to balance the many interests, demands and costs, and to overcome conflicts and resistance. Thanks to GreenRisk4ALPs, this challenge is being solved through new mitigation solutions and science-based communication support. The program thus aims to raise awareness of nature-related risks among political, economic and social actors and to improve transnational policies by addressing recent policy needs and challenges in an innovative way by involving multiple stakeholders.

The creation of a forest and risk management guide book is one of the objectives. It will contain recommendations such as introducing irregular stands in marketable plots to maintain vegetation cover; establishing free-evolving forests in unharvested plots to maintain large trees with important root systems and old growth stands that are resistant to rock falls; or lengthening production rates.

GreenRisk4ALPs project ASP635 is funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg Alpine Space programme.

Results, limits and enable factors

Development of new tools by mid 2021:

• Protective Forest Assessment Tool (FAT) – was designed to aid as a decision support tool and consists of a gravitational hazard runout model and an economic model.
• Flow-Py – Open access calculation routine for natural hazard processes and forests that provides estimation of the degree of forest protection for various scenarios and estimation of the damage value.