Scandinavia

The Scandinavian Pilot focuses on agriculture, forestry, and energy – three sectors which are particularly sensitive to the impacts of climate change.

Climate change is predicted to intensify several interrelated natural hazards in the region. Extreme rainfall can trigger floods while increased heat waves and drought can amplify forest fires, reduce agricultural productivity, and amplify biological hazards like the expanding habitats of the pine beetles. Low snowfall in winter associated with drought in spring and summer can destabilize the energy sector, for example when it is based on hydropower.

Transition to a low-carbon society will affect ecosystems as the demand for land, energy, wood, and food production will rise.

Climate change combined with the growing demand from society puts sectors, such as hydropower, wood production and ecosystem conservation, under pressure and creates new trade-offs. MYRIAD-EU will study the interactions of multiple hazards at seasonal to multi-decadal scales and their impacts to tackle these challenges.

The Scandinavia pilot contributes to the EU Green Deal’s new EU forestry strategy. It promotes effective forest preservation to increase forests’ potential for carbon capture, supports the bioeconomy, and reduces the impact and extent of fires while protecting biodiversity.