About the project

Research infrastructure for adaptation to climate change

The reality of global warming is universally recognised. Optimistic scenarios predict a temperature rise of around 4°C in the next 50 years. However, little is known of this increase in temperature’s regional consequences, especially in oceanic areas.

A number of uncertainties remain at different levels. These may be: climatic (i.e., local changes in precipitations, change in the Gulf Stream, etc.), economic (i.e., changes in fossil fuel costs, in the importance of world trade, etc.) and environmental (i.e., modifications of forest pest and pathogens populations, rise of sea levels, etc.).

Although climate change’s impacts on the European Atlantic coast cannot be accurately modelled, specific threats have been identified by modellers, such as the disruption of tree life cycles, the appearance of new pathogens, and the maladaptation of local species to new climatic conditions. Reinfforce is therefore a key facility to study the sustainability of forest resources, because the trees planted today will be harvested in 50 years' time, and will have to be able to withstand the new climatic conditions.