Climate change is already threatening forest ecosystems and, in particular, the ecosystem services that forests provide to nature and people. Many tree species are suffering from rising temperatures and increased drought. However, we know too little about how we can strengthen the resilience of forests to climate change through targeted forest management. A pan-European project involving WSL aims to fill this knowledge gap. The project aims to FORWARDS is the establishment of the ForestWard Observatory – a tool for monitoring and assessing the impacts of climate change on forests.“ForWARDS will, for the first time, combine long-term forest monitoring data, satellite data and model results from across Europe to understand the impact of climate change on forests,” explains WSL researcher Arthur Gessler. The information collected supports policymakers and forestry practitioners in taking action and increasing the resilience of forests in the long term. The ForestWard observatory is designed to provide guidance for action at European, regional and local levels to adapt management to climate change. Although Gessler stresses that this does not replace the urgent need for CO ₂to reduce emissions. “Without such reductions, adaptation measures cannot prevent important forest functions (such as avalanche protection) from being provided to the extent they are today. It is therefore essential that the transition to net zero emissions takes place in a timely manner.” (Tamara Bauman)