According to research conducted by the Complutense University of Madrid along with INIA-CSIC, the predominant forests in Spain are changing. For a long time, monospecific forests have been predominant on the Iberian Peninsula, as a result of activities such as forestry, agriculture, and livestock farming. Due to industrial transformations leading to the abandonment of traditional practices, as well as the increase in extreme weather events, mixed forests are gaining ground. Specifically, events such as droughts or forest fires, driven by climate change, have contributed to altering this trend.
Thanks to information from the National Forest Inventory database, which details references from 1990 to the present, the Atlantic region is identified as the area where the most significant changes are occurring. For example, previously, monospecific pine forests were predominant due to timber activities. However, now, a large number of forests where pine shares dominance with other broadleaf species are observed.
Researcher Laura Hernández from UCM and INIA-CSIC told the SINC agency that “new factors of global change, such as the increase of invasive species and extreme weather events, could disrupt this natural trend.” On the other hand, scientific studies show that mixed forests are more resilient to climate change. For this reason, at CO2 Revolution, we prioritize heterogeneous forests with a diversity of both tree and shrub species.
