FOREST4EU is a Horizon Europe funded project that aims at connecting hundreds of small projects promoted by small groups of farmers, researchers, forest managers, environmental associations and local communities, known as “Operational Groups”.
Operational Groups share the same goal: advancing innovation and good practices in forestry and agroforestry sectors. They are usually financed by regional and European funding, in the context of the EIP-AGRI platform.
However, the innovations and best practices developed, tend to remain in the local environments and do not reach other European communities or OGs beyond the national borders, losing in turn precious know-how and experiences.
The FOREST4EU project will tackle this problem by connecting these OGs around Europe, and favouring the transfer of knowledge and best practices between experts of forestry and agroforestry sectors in 9 member states, focussing on five main topics:
Wood mobilisation – increasing the production value and overall supply of wood from private forests.
Forest adaptation to climate change – finding new solutions to help foresters adapting to climate change effects.
Sustainable forest management and ecosystem services – promoting those practices that balance profit-oriented logging with environmental and social goals.
Non-wood forest products – develop and share new business models revolving around the supply of non-wood products.
Agroforestry – increase the attention on the need for design and implement adapted support policy measures within the production system of agroforestry.