Luxembourg, Wallonia Launch Web App for Forest Adaptation to Climate Change

The Nature and Forest Agency of Luxembourg's Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development has announced the launch of a new web application dedicated to forestry adaptation to climate change: fichierecologique.lu.

Developed in partnership with the Walloon Region in Belgium, this is a decision-making tool for forest managers and owners in the context of forest adaptation to climate change.

The web app has benefited from the results of 20 years of research and development carried out by the University of Liège (Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech), the Université Catholique de Louvain (environmental sciences - ELIe) and Belgian non-profit organisation (and app developer) Forêt.Nature ASBL, with funding from the Walloon Region (five-year plan for forestry research and extension).

Commenting on the application, Luxembourg's Minister of the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development, Carole Dieschbourg, said: "The Luxembourg species ecological file is a good example of cross-border cooperation. The forest is one of our most important allies in the fight against global warming. The new tool has the potential to contribute to improving the resilience of forests to the multiple challenges caused by this crisis".

On the initiative of the Nature and Forest Agency, this tool, unique in the European Union (EU), has been adapted to the bioclimatic, site and topographic specificities of Luxembourg over the past three years. 

"Walloon forests are suffering and this is unfortunately the case for other European forests", observed the Walloon Minister for the Environment, Nature, Forests, Rural Affairs and Animal Welfare, Céline Tellier. "All regions have the same problems in the face of climate change and the same challenges to overcome to make our territories more resilient. It is therefore important to share our research advances from one country to another in order to preserve our forests in the future. The forest must be able to continue to provide all of its many services to future generations".

Ministers Dieschbourg and Tellier inaugurated this joint work, in the presence of experts and scientists, in Lintgen (in the canton of Mersch in central Luxembourg) on Friday 11 March 2022.

This tool is now available (in French and German) free of charge on the aforementioned website. Forêt.Nature ASBL will provide training courses to managers and public or private owners in the coming months to facilitate the appropriation of the tool and its qualitative use.