Addressing disturbance risk to mountain forest ecosystem services

Stritih, Ana; Bebi, Peter; Rossi, Christian; Grêt‐Regamey, Adrienne

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.113188

Cited by 45 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…Some hazards are addressed jointly because of their similar nature and biophysical mechanisms, for example NbS addressing several natural hazards such as landslides and avalanches through forest protection, management and restoration. But co-occurring hazards of different natures are also addressed jointly by NbS, such as wildfires and natural pests through sustainable forest management (Felipe-Lucia et al 2018;Stritih et al 2021). Drought and floods are also addressed jointly by wetland restoration, which is known to be effective when well designed (Erwin 2009).…”

Section: Diversity and Multifunctionality Of Nature-based Solutions F...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation are not located where they are most needed across the Alps

et al. 2022

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Climate change impacts mountains socio-ecosystems by increasing certain natural disasters and changing Nature's Contributions to People (NCP). Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are increasingly implemented to help local communities adapt to climatic hazards. However, the relevance of their location in relation to those hazards and local NCP has hardly been addressed. In the PORTAL project (Pathways of Transformation in the Alps), we identified and mapped a portfolio of 97 NbS for climate change adaptation in the European Alps. Most NbS addressed drought or soil instability, and aimed to provide multiple NCP simultaneously such as wood production and protective function against landslides. We analysed whether NbS are located where they are the most needed, according to both current and future intensity of the hazards they aim to address and to supply-flow-demand indicators of the NCP they aim to provide. We found that the location of NbS is overall not related to current supply-flow-demand indicators of most NCP, nor to intensity of hazards. Nevertheless, NbS addressing droughts and floods are located in areas where these hazards are more intense, but do not match higher values for NCP indicators. Conversely, NbS aiming to produce wood and to provide protective function against landslides are located in areas with greater levels of these NCP, regardless of the intensity of hazards. These results suggest that hazards and NCP indicators are not the main drivers of NbS implementation. We argue that integrating local climate conditions and current NCP flows is needed to underpin a macro-regional strategy for planning NbS implementation.

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Section: Diversity and Multifunctionality Of Nature-based Solutions F...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation are not located where they are most needed across the Alps

et al. 2022

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“…Therefore, we expect major differences in the delineation of the protection forest. Because of the 40 high economical and societal relevance of the protection forest functions in Grisons (Stritih et al, 2021), changes in the delineation of protection forest have very large impacts. Therefore, more time and discussions are needed to implement the https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2022-11 Preprint.…”

Section: Applications In Practice 20mentioning

confidence: 99%

Automated avalanche hazard indication mapping on state wide scale

Bühler

Bebi

Christen

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Abstract. Snow avalanche hazard mapping has a long tradition in the European Alps. Hazard maps delineate areas of potential avalanche danger and are only available for selected areas where people and significant infrastructure are endangered. They have been created over generations, at specific sites, mainly based on avalanche activity in the past. For a large part of the area (90 % in the case of the Canton of Grisons) no maps are available. This is a problem when new territory with no or incomplete historical record is to be developed. It is an even larger problem when trying to predict the effects of climate change at the state scale where the historical record may no longer be valid. To close this gap, we develop an automated approach to generate spatial continuous hazard indication mapping based on a digital elevation model for the canton of Grisons (7105 km2) in the Swiss Alps. We calculate eight different scenarios with return periods ranging from frequent to very rare as well as with and without taking the protective effects of the forest into account. This approach combines the automated delineation of potential release areas, the calculation of release depths and the numerical simulation of the avalanche dynamics. This procedure can be applied worldwide, where high spatial resolution digital elevation models, detailed information on the forest and data on the snow climate are available, enabling reproducible hazard indication mapping also in regions where no avalanche hazard maps yet exist. This is invaluable for climate change studies. The simulation results are validated with official hazard maps, by assessments of avalanche experts and by existing avalanche cadastres derived from manual mapping and mapping based on satellite datasets. The results for the canton of Grisons are now operationally applied in the daily hazard assessment work of the authorities. Based on these experiences, the proposed approach can be applied for further mountain regions.

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“…This high biodiversity is only possible due to the habitat's quality and the presence of well preserved and forests. Several works found that mountain forests have a high capacity for carbon sequestration (global and local climate regulation) (e.g., Sil et al, 2017;Stritih et al, 2021) (Figure 1), and this can be different according to the slope aspect. For instance, Swetnam et al (2017) found that in the Rocky Mountains (The USA), the carbon storage capacity was higher in the north-facing slopes than in the southern.…”

Section: Regulating Ecosystem Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Servicios ecosistémicos en áreas de montaña: beneficios y amenazas

et al. 2022

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Las áreas de montaña tienen un impacto importante en las dinámicas climáticas y son una de las fuentes de agua con condiciones más críticas. Las montañas fueron claves en la evolución histórica del ser humano y suministraron servicios ecosistémicos (SE) bióticos y abióticos esenciales para la vida humana. Este artículo de perspectiva estudiará la importancia de las montañas para el suministro de SE y los impactos de los diferentes factores de cambio, a saber, cambios en el hábitat, el cambio climático, la sobreexplotación, la contaminación y las especies invasoras. Las zonas de montaña tienen una gran capacidad para suministrar un número importante de recursos reguladores (regulación del clima global y local, regulación de la calidad del aire, regulación de los riesgos naturales, polinización), de aprovisionamiento (cultivos, ganado, alimentos y pesca silvestre, biomasa para energía y madera, energía renovable de agua dulce -hidroeléctrica, eólica, solar y geotérmica- y recursos minerales) y culturales (ocio y turismo, estética e inspiración del paisaje, patrimonio cultural y diversidad cultural y sistemas de conocimiento). Sin embargo, los cambios impuestos por la modificación del hábitat, el cambio climático, la sobreexplotación, la contaminación y las especies invasoras pueden aumentar los intercambios entre los SE y desencadenar la degradación del medio ambiente. En general, es necesario equilibrar la utilización de los SE de montaña y reducir los efectos de los distintos factores de cambio.

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Addressing disturbance risk to mountain forest ecosystem services

Cited by 45 publications

References 80 publications

Nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation are not located where they are most needed across the Alps

Nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation are not located where they are most needed across the Alps

Automated avalanche hazard indication mapping on state wide scale

Servicios ecosistémicos en áreas de montaña: beneficios y amenazas

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