Context

The forests of the Southern Alps are particularly sensitive to climate change and in many places experience significant decline. Renewing the forest cover requires innovating by testing a panel of species, mostly from different Mediterranean regions, and likely to meet the demands of tomorrow's climate, with a view to diversifying genetic resources.

 

Supported Project

The L’OCCITANE Foundation supports the ONF - Agir pour la Forêt endowment fund as part of its experimental reforestation project.

The project is part of the global MedForFutur program (2017-2022) which consists of planting, from a panel of new species, Cephalonia fir, Calocedar, Atlas Cedar, Salzmann Pine and Balkan Pine, a network of 30 future islands in different massifs of the Southern Alps to have references on the renewal capacities of the forests and to diversify their composition in order to make them more resilient to climate change and successive droughts.

In total, the project plans to plant and observe 3,500 trees of 6 different varieties on 7 hectares and will contribute to the preservation of biodiversity.

 

Some Figures

In 2021-2022, the project plans to plant 2,100 trees in the Gorges du Sasse state forest to evaluate the forest's renewal capacity and to find silvicultural perspectives.

Budget 10,000 euros

Results 2,100 planted trees

Results 5 varieties preserved

Testimonies

"This project aims to establish islands of the future to study the adaptation and resilience of new species that are more Mediterranean or even more distant in our latitudes. Aleppo pine, Atlas cedar, Balkan pine, Cephalonia fir, Douglas fir and Calocedar were planted."

Eric Lapeine, Territorial Forestry Technician

 

 

 

 

ONF - Eric Lapeine

"This project has changed the way I see the forest. [...] I realise that the forest makes it possible to rebalance in a positive way the carbon dioxide emissions emitted by human activity. Sequestering the carbon produced by man is in a way a return to the primary role of the forest. We have always tended to consider the forest as a resource (excessive exploitation, deforestation, etc.), losing sight of its primary role: that of a lung for living species.”

Damien BERNARD, 42 years old, regular hiker, living in the Alpes de Haute Provence

 

 

 

 

ONF - Damien Bernard