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The Protective Role of Forests to Reduce Rockfall Risks and Impacts in the Alps Under a Climate Change Perspective

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Climate Change, Hazards and Adaptation Options

Part of the book series: Climate Change Management ((CCM))

Abstract

Among the functions provided by forests, protection has always been considered one of the preeminent in mountain areas. In order to fulfil, maximize, and sustain this function, specific forest structures should be obtained and maintained through properly designed forest management. A specific management goal should be defined with a well-defined forest target against each natural hazard, based on the protection potentially provided by the forest stands, in either an active (e.g. against avalanches) or passive way (e.g. against rockfall). Climate change is forecast to affect both disturbance regimes and forest ecosystems, leading to new challenging issues concerning protection forest management. This paper describes how a forest stand exerts its protective role against rockfalls and the target profile to be reached for sustaining this function. Potential consequences of climate change on forest ecosystems that management will have to face in the near future are also addressed. New perspectives are provided taking into account the knowledge coming from recent research studies and specifically the results obtained in the RockTheAlps project (ASP462), dealing with the assessment of protection forests against rockfall in the Alps.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the European Commission (project ASP 462 RockTheAlps) within the European Territorial Cooperation program “Alpine Space”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. TESAF, University of Padova, Viale dell’Università, 16, 35020, Legnaro, Italy

    Emanuele Lingua, Francesco Bettella & Mario Pividori

  2. DISAFA, University of Torino, L.go Braccini, 2, 10095, Grugliasco, Italy

    Raffaella Marzano & Matteo Garbarino

  3. DIATI, Politecnico di Torino, C.so Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 10129, Turin, Italy

    Marco Piras

  4. Department of Forestry and Renewable Forest Resources, University of Ljubljana, Večna pot 83, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Milan Kobal

  5. Mountain Ecosystems Research Unit, IRSTEA—National Research Institute of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture, rue de la Papeterie, 2, BP 76, 38402, Saint-Martin-d’Hères Cedex, France

    Frédéric Berger

Authors
  1. Emanuele Lingua
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  2. Francesco Bettella
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  3. Mario Pividori
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  4. Raffaella Marzano
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  5. Matteo Garbarino
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  6. Marco Piras
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  7. Milan Kobal
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  8. Frédéric Berger
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Emanuele Lingua .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Oceanografia y Ecologia Marina. Coastal Climate Science, Universidad de la República de Uruguay, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Gustavo J. Nagy

  3. Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padova, Legnaro, Italy

    Marco Borga

  4. Department of Engineering, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, Lima, Peru

    Pastor David Chávez Muñoz

  5. Department of Hydrology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

    Artur Magnuszewski

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Lingua, E. et al. (2020). The Protective Role of Forests to Reduce Rockfall Risks and Impacts in the Alps Under a Climate Change Perspective. In: Leal Filho, W., Nagy, G., Borga, M., Chávez Muñoz, P., Magnuszewski, A. (eds) Climate Change, Hazards and Adaptation Options. Climate Change Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37425-9_18

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