03 nov 2025
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New Tree Species for Climate-Resilient Forests in Flanders

By Alexia Bekaert, based on a research conducted by KU Leuven scientists as part of the Climate Trees Project

Flemish forests are facing new challenges. Droughts, storms, diseases, and declining vitality are putting traditional species under pressure. For private forest owners, this raises an important question: Which trees will help forests stay strong and healthy in a changing climate?

Landelijk Vlaanderen supports its members in tackling these challenges with climate-smart forest management. Our goal is to help forest owners maintain biodiversity, timber production, carbon storage, and recreational value. All while adapting to rapidly changing conditions.

Scientific research offers valuable guidance. Projects such as the Climate Trees Project, led by KU Leuven and supported by the Agency for Nature and Forests (ANB), identify tree species and provenances that are more resilient to cliamte stress. The research suggests mixing local species with those from regions that resemble Flanders’ projected future climate. This approach, known as assisted migration, helps forests retain genetic divesity and ecological function under changing conditions.

Some key principles for building resilient forests include:

  • Species diversity: planting a mix of tree types to ensure the forest can withstand pests, disease, and extreme weather.
  • Functional diversity: choosing trees that perform different roles in the ecosystem, like fixing nitrogen, providing habitat, or stabilising soil.
  • Redundancy: having multiple species with similar functions so the forest continues to thrive even if some trees fail.

Practical experimentation and monitoring are hereby key to see which species survive, grow well, and support wildlife. Integrating provenances from southern European can further boost genetic variability and adaptability.

For private forest owners in Flanders, climate-adaptive management is no longer optional. By carefully selecting species, mixing provenances, and manageing for resilience, private forests can become strong ecosystems ready to face the future.

Landelijk Vlaanderen provides guidance, tools, and advice to help members implement these practices, ensuring that forsts continue to provide ecological, social, and economic benefits for generations to come.

Find the link to SMURF website: here.

Find the link to the report:  here.

If you would like to get started yourself, you can download and use the Climate Tree Tool via the QR code.

Climate Trees tool: here

Guidelines for Climate Trees tool: here

22 okt 2025
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Forest Groupings: time to bring them back?

By Alexia Bekaert, based on an article by Jean-Michel Maus de Rolley in Sylva Belgica (November 2024)

In Flanders, private forest ownership is often highly fragmented. Many forest plots are small, scattered, or shared among several heirs. This makes sustainable and efficient management challenging, both practically and financially.

Until 1999, forest groupings offered a legal framework to bring such owners together. Their abolition left a gap in Flemish forest policy, one that still limits the potential of private forest management today.

Across the language border, however, Wallonia kept and refined the system. There, groupements forestiers (forest owner associations) allow private owners to pool their lands under one legal entity, managed collectively and supported by clear fiscal incentives. These associations are transparent, exempt from corporate tax, and offer advantages for inheritance and donations. They also help ensure long-term, sustainable management of private forests.

As the voice of private land and forest owners, Landelijk Vlaanderen sees this Walloon model as an inspiring example. A renewed framework for forest groupings in Flanders could help owners overcome fragmentation, strengthen cooperation, and unlock new opportunities for sustainable forest management.

Such an initiative would not only support biodiversity and climate resilience, but also ensures that forests remain living assets, economically viable and ecologically valuable, for future generations.

Through the SMURF project, Landelijk Vlaanderen continues to share knowledge, build partnerships, and explore practical solutions that empower private owners to manage forests responsibly. We believe it is time to reopen the discussion on forest groupings, and to give private owners the tools and incentives they need to manage their forests efficiently, collectively, and sustainably.

Find the link to SMURF website here.