Conservation and sustainable utilization of forest tree diversity in climate change. SUSTREE Policy Brief No. 1, Output of the INTERREG CENTRAL EUROPE Programme 2014-2020

The conservation and sustainable utilization of forest tree diversity in climate change is an urgent requirement for forest adaptation in climate change throughout Europe. In the frame of the Interreg Central Europe project SUSTREE (Conservation and sustainable utilization of forest tree diversity in climate change), a policy brief has been written, to inform policy makers about the link between climate change and local adaptations of forest trees and the requirement to evaluate and revise present national and European legislation on forest reproductive material. The key findings of the policy brief are: 1) Forest trees exhibit manifold local adaptations to the climate of their habitat guaranteeing optimal growth and survival under stable environmental conditions. 2) Climate change disrupts the link between climate and local adaptations thereby challenging the “local is best” paradigm. 3) Regions of Provenance, defined within European and National legislations, differ among countries and do not reflect climate conditions nor support adaptive management in climate change. 4) Legislations governing reforestation and seed transfer should be based on range-wide local adaptation of trees to assist management of genetic resources under climate change