Strengthening the resilience of pine forests to bark beetle outbreaks and associated dieback
Project code: TCP/RER/3801 (669325)
Project duration: 01 March 2020 – 30 August 2021
Country(ies)s: Belarus and Ukraine
Target species: Pine forests
Summary
Belarus and Ukraine have a high forest cover, which equals to 18 290 500 hectares of forestland (8 633 500 ha in Belarus and 9 657 000 ha in Ukraine). Given these extensive natural resources, forests provide an essential contribution to the wellbeing of rural populations and to the national economy.
Although Belarus and Ukraine have great potential for forestry development, there are new emerging limiting factors related to global environmental processes, resulting in a highly increased proportion of dead forest stands and damage to plantings by pests and diseases. The preliminary findings in Belarus and Ukraine suggested that reduced vitality of pine forests as the primary cause for the susceptibility of trees to bark beetle attack and the subsequent dieback.
Natural disturbances such as severe and protracted drought combined with high tree densities cause limited resources, and as a consequence, trees become stressed and susceptible to bark beetle attacks.
It seems that in past decades lack of appropriate thinning of pine forests, which would have reduced competition between individual trees for light, nutrition and water, resulted in pine forests with high number of trees per hectare as well as many trees with underdeveloped tree crowns with limited vitality.
The extreme weather conditions of recent years – in particular in 2017 – with long periods of dry and severe hot weather, further reduced the vitality of individual pine trees and made them susceptible to bark beetle attacks. The rapid spread of various bark beetle species involved in the dieback of pine forests has been the result of the sheer abundance of pine trees of reduced vitality across all age and diameter classes attractive for a number of different bark beetle species, as well as weather conditions favouring rapid reproduction rates of the bark beetles.
Appropriate pest management activities require adequate and quality information about the current health status of and changes in pine forest ecosystems to develop tailored actions for combating dieback of pine forests.
Expected results Improve resilience of pine forests to deliver ecosystem services, which would contribute to the national economy and provide livelihoods for rural populations
Outcome National forest health systems and procedures are in place in Belarus and Ukraine to respond to pest outbreaks and associated dieback
Output 1. National surveillance and monitoring systems revised to develop functional early warning systems
Activities
1.1 Organize a project inception workshop in each country including designing a study to identify current status and the future requirements of the surveillance and monitoring system in view of the establishment of an early warning system
1.2 Conduct a study on the current status of the surveillance and monitoring systems
1.3 Develop customized surveillance techniques and applications for permanent monitoring of forest land at various levels
1.4 Develop data collection protocols and templates for the envisaged early warning system
1.5 Conduct two national workshops to validate Activities 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4
Output 2. National contingency plans for forest pest outbreaks developed and validated with regional and district forest managers
Activities
2.1 Assessment of institutional capacities for rapid response to pest outbreaks (bark beetle attacks)
2.2 Organize an expert meeting to exchange experiences and expertise from other countries of forest pest outbreaks
2.3 Support the national counterparts in developing national contingency plans
2.4 Organize validation workshops for finalization of draft national contingency plans
Output 3. Guidelines developed for improving resilience of forest stands in relation to forest health and enhancing drought mitigation
Activities
3.1 Compile good practices for improving resilience of forest stands in relation to forest health and enhancing drought mitigation
3.2 Guidelines for improving resilience of forest stands towards pests and diseases, as well as drought
3.3 Conduct training of trainers (ToT) for forest practitioners based on the guidelines
Output 4. National capacities on communication and regional coordination in relation to forest health issues strengthened
Activities
4.1 Organize a study tour to countries with similar challenges
4.2 Organize a regional workshop under the umbrella of the Forest Invasive Species Network for Europe and Central Asia to facilitate better information exchange on emerging pest outbreaks and dieback in the region 4.3 In collaboration with national counterparts develop a communication plan for improved information dissemination about forest health and resilience
4.4 Project closing seminars