Projected ecosystem data - Denmark

Forest restoration initiatives are becoming widespread in many European countries. Within these initiatives, attempts are being made to restore various forest habitat types and a wide range of areas with different socioeconomic and ecological backgrounds. The forest restoration goals in Europe may not always be to return to a past reference forest, but rather to a defined, intermediate and managed forest state that sustains desired goods and ecosystem services. Therefore, most likely trajectories of future forest development are needed to assess and evaluate restoration outcomes, as well as advise on successful measures which could support upscaling of the restoration initiatives. This Danish projection report for Thy and NordSjaelland is part of the deliverable D6.5 on projected ecosystem data. The forest development under varying restoration scenarios is projected until 2100, with use of the EFISCEN-Space model. The model projections showed that (1) in the set-aside scenario the stopping of commercial fellings and related set-aside gives a significant increase in the standing stock of large size trees, (2) combination of fellings, enrichment plantings of native trees and shrubs, and natural regeneration give optimal conditions for a more structurally and species divers forest, (3) change from production forest to biodiversity forest requires a wide variety of restoration activities to initiate and reintroduce the biological and natural processes.