On April 9, 2025, the SingleTree project was in the spotlight at the 25th Swiss Global Change Day (SGCD25) in Bern, Switzerland, where Niál Perry from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) presented the team’s latest research. Representing the cutting-edge work of the SingleTree consortium, Niál unveiled a poster that highlighted how advanced data-driven approaches can transform forest management—tree by tree.
At the heart of the SingleTree project lies a bold ambition: to optimise multifunctional forest management by focusing on individual trees rather than generalized forest stands. Using Earth observation data and artificial intelligence (AI), the project is developing an innovative optimisation framework that can support decision-making at a far more granular level than current methods.
The poster presentation “Optimising Multi-functional Forest Management on the Individual-Tree Level” at SGCD25 underscored several groundbreaking aspects of the project:
- Tree-level optimisation: Leveraging individual-tree data from remote sensing and AI-driven analysis, the framework allows forest managers to tailor interventions with unprecedented precision.
- Balancing ecosystem services: The approach aims to enhance critical forest functions—biodiversity, biomass production, and climate resilience—by identifying trade-offs and synergies between them.
- Adapting to climate change: By comparing optimised strategies to traditional practices, SingleTree investigates how forests can better withstand disturbances such as pests, drought, and windthrow—all of which are becoming more frequent due to climate change.
This work is a joint effort between WSL and the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO), under the SingleTree project. It is supported by the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) under Grant No. 101157488.
As global forests face increasing pressures, SingleTree offers a timely and scientifically robust approach to building more resilient, productive, and biodiverse forest ecosystems, starting with a single tree.
Download the poster here.
