Assessing and mapping how hydroclimatic extremes threaten freshwater ecosystem services within European forest landscapes.
© REACTION Project
Overview
European forest landscape ecosystems are essential for biodiversity, climate regulation, water supply, and human well-being, but are currently degraded by climate change, land-use pressures, and governance gaps.
Currently there is a critical knowledge gap on how extreme events affect ecosystem functioning and services.
REACTION aims to fill this gap in understanding in a European context.
REACTION’s main goals are to:
- to identify and map relevant hazards
- assess exposure and vulnerability
- quantify present and future risks under changing climate conditions
- co-develop management and restoration strategies that balance ecological integrity with societal water needs.
Case Studies
© REACTION Project
IIASA Team
Barbara Willaarts
Senior Research Scholar (WAT)
Rebekah Hinton
Research Scholar (WAT)
IIASA’s main contribution to REACTION lies in leading the stakeholder engagement and co-production component of the project. Building on its experience with participatory systems analysis, science–policy interfaces, and multi-actor dialogues, IIASA coordinates the design and facilitation of Learning Action Alliances and other engagement formats that link scientific outputs with practical decision-making needs. This role ensures that ecosystem service indicators, risk assessments, and management strategies are not only scientifically robust, but also grounded in the priorities and knowledge of end users across water, forestry, conservation, and policy sectors.
REACTION aligns with previous IIASA work on climate adaptation, hydrological extremes, drought and flood risk management. It also aligns with IIASA’s experience of innovative stakeholder engagement and scenario planning.
IIASA models, tools or data being used on this project
Funding
The project is funded through WaterForAll, via consortium funding from:
- FORMAS - Sweden
- AKA - Finland
- AEI - Spain
- SAS- Slovakia
- FWF - Austria
© Water4All