Protective Forests for Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco-DRR) in the Alpine Space

Abstract

Mountain forests are an efficient Forest-based Solution (FbS) for Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco-DRR) by lowering the frequency, magnitude, and/or intensity of natural hazards. Technical protection measures are often poor solutions as stand-alone measures to reduce disaster risk limited by material wear and fatigue or financial resources and aesthetical values. Protective forests should therefore be considered as key elements in integrated risk management strategies. However, the definition of protective forests and the understanding and assessment of their protective functions and effects differ greatly among Alpine Space countries. In this chapter, we present a short introduction to the concept of Eco-DRR and companion terms and propose a definition of FbS as a specific case of Nature-based Solutions for an ecosystem-based and integrated risk management of natural hazards. That is, we guide the reader through the maze of existing definitions and concepts and try to disentangle their meanings. Furthermore, we present an introduction to forest regulations in the Alpine Space and European protective forest management guidelines. Our considerations and recommendations can help strengthen the role of protective forests as FbS in Eco-DRR and the acknowledgment of the key protective function they have and the crucial protective effects they provide in mountain areas.

The Concept of Risk and Natural Hazards

“…Supporting an ecosystem-based integrated risk management and the acknowledgment of the key role forests have for risk reduction in mountain areas, the findings of GR4A help identifying mitigation strategies and subsequently efficient risk reduction measures through an improved and participative risk governance system. How forests can act as a solution for Eco-DRR is the subject of the following three chapters of this book [72][73][74]. Moreover, the methodologies and decision support tools related to the risk concept that were developed and applied within GR4A are presented in [75,76], the book chapters [77-79], and are explained in detail in the GR4A project reports [20,65,80,81].…”

Flood Protection by Forests in Alpine Watersheds: Lessons Learned from Austrian Case Studies

“…"Risk management, communication and planning of forest ecosystem services are complicated by uncertainty, insufficient information or information of poor quality, limited cognitive capacity and time, along with value conflicts and ethical considerations" [52]. Thus Calder et al [53] proposed an improved approach to river basin and flood management, combining land use management in watersheds with land use planning, technical measures, flood prevention and emergency management in the affected floodplains, which corresponds to the goals of Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco-DRR) [54] (for further information on Eco-DRR see chapter [55] of this book). Traditional approaches of flood risk management must be adapted to changing conditions due to population growth linked to high area consumption and increased soil sealing, large-scale changes in land use and climate change.…”

Geodata Requirements for Mapping Protective Functions and Effects of Forests

“…Therefore, the term should not be used for the selection of "goods" to be protected because of a legal or another social convention and is no longer mentioned, for example, in [21]. In the context of forest function planning, a terminology different from the DRR community is used (see also book chapters [1,12]); that is, the assets to be protected by forest and their entities are called "objects." A simple intersection of hazard maps and assets is sufficient to identify endangered objects (the damage potential) and for risk assessment but not for delineating forests with protective functions.…”

“…To spatially determine the protective function of forests dependent on a hazard potential and a damage potential is the first level of risk analyses considering the protective capabilities of current or future forests. On this first level, delineating object protective forests (or object protection forests; see chapter [1] of this book) and areas to be potentially afforested, the effect of the current forest is not considered. The term "hazard potential" refers to the onset and propagation probabilities (frequency and magnitude) of natural hazards as well as to their intensity without considering the effects of the current forest cover (and other mitigation measures) on the hazard component of risk.…”

“…The protective effects of forests are their capacity to reduce natural hazard's frequency, magnitude, and/or intensity (see chapters [1,12] of this book). The next crucial step of an ecosystem-based natural hazard risk management by forest is, therefore, to consider the effects of the existing woody vegetation on hazard frequency, magnitude, and intensity.…”