Background The Fourth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggests that in the coming decades regional weather patterns will be altered and extreme weather events will become more commonplace. These changing weather patterns will induce changes in the environment that will affect the growth and vitality of forests. This project is particularly concerned by how changes in the water cycle will affect forests. Much of the effect of climate change on forests will be dependent on how soils are able to provide water to plants as there will likely be changes in precipitation, transpiration and evaporation. However, there is not yet a clear picture of how these changes will impact on Finnish forests. Objectives This project aims to improve knowledge of how forest growth could change in future by compiling existing data and models. Information compiled by the project will establish a better basis for regional forest management planning in the context of climate change. The overall objective of the project is to build and demonstrate a system that predicts changes in forest growth and vulnerability in the context of climate change. The system will be used to develop maps and indicators that will support decision-making by public officials and forest managers. The proposed approach builds on long-term forest monitoring data and links these to models of forest productivity. These data will then be linked to simulated variables that determine the susceptibility of forests to abiotic (drought) and biotic (pests/pathogens) damage. The simulations will enable the accurate prediction of changes in the susceptibility to damage of forests. Expected results: The most important expected results are: A map of changes in future forest growth and carbon mitigation potential; A map of changes in the susceptibility of forests to drought and selected biotic disturbance (pests/pathogens); A map of LAI and biomass distribution in Finland; and An Internet-based GIS-application for stakeholders and the general public, which disseminates the most important results of the project. The results of the project will enable regional forest management to adapt to climate change and help forest decision-makers and managers in their work.