Forestry in the spotlight

The European Union has close to 182 million hectares of forests covering 43% of its land area and these forest areas are one of Europe's most important renewable resources. EU forests are exceptionally diverse, with a large variety of forest types, characteristics and ownership structures. They provide multiple benefits for society and the economy whilst being a major source of biodiversity. Additionally, they are a key resource for improving quality of life and in the creation of jobs.

A social media campaign on Twitter and LinkedIn highlighted important EIP-AGRI activities on forestry #EIPagriForest.

The Agrinnovation magazine - Issue n° 8 - May 2022 - places forests in the spotlight. The EIP-AGRI Newsletter from December 2020 was also dedicated to forestry.

Check out the EIP-AGRI Youtube channel playlist on forestry. If you would like to add your video to the playlist, please get in touch innovation-knowledge@eucapnetwork.eu

See below for details on forestry-related activities.

Focus Groups

Focus Groups are temporary groups of selected experts focusing on a specific subject, sharing knowledge and experience. Several of them have worked on issues related to forestry, click on each link below to find reports, factsheets and more:

• Agroforestry: introducing woody vegetation into specialised crop and livestock systems
• Sustainable mobilisation of forest biomass
• New forest practices and tools for adaptation and mitigation of climate change

Events

Click on each link to find reports, presentations, factsheets and more from events related to forestry:

• EIP-AGRI Seminar 'Turning forest innovation into practice'
• Agri-Innovation summit 2019
• EIP-AGRI Workshop "Small is smart" - Innovative solutions for small agricultural and forestry holdings
• EIP-AGRI Workshop ‘New value chains from multifunctional forests’
• EIP-AGRI Workshop 'Opportunities for Agriculture and Forestry in the Circular Economy'

Publications

As well as the Focus Group reports and factsheets, the the following publications which are relevant to forestry have been published:

• EIP-AGRI Agrinnovation magazine 8 - focus on forestry 
• EIP-AGRI Brochure on Creating diverse forests with multiple benefits
• EIP-AGRI Brochure Innovation for European forestry

Inspirational ideas

Articles on examples of forestry related initiatives including Operational Groups:

• Inspirational ideas: When forest meets field – AU
• Inspirational ideas: Restoration of degraded forest areas – FR
• Inspirational ideas: Added value for agriculture and nature – DE
• Inspirational ideas: Sustainable farming in French Guiana – FR
• Inspirational ideas: Social innovation for sustainable forest management
• Inspirational ideas: Improving soils in Montado ecosystems – PT
• Inspirational ideas: low-impact machinery for small farm woodlands – UK
• Inspirational ideas: Natural tree regeneration in oak woodlands – PT
• Inspirational ideas : Forests for food - Ecosystems for biodiversity, soil health and food - UK
• Inspirational ideas: Setting up short wood supply chains using hedgerows - FR
• Inspirational ideas: Forests for wood, water, food and fun - ES
• Inspirational ideas: Improving forestry value chains in Finland - FI
• Inspirational ideas: Agreegreen: Models for managing woody biomass - IT
• Inspirational ideas: Trees as an asset in mountain livestock systems - FR
• Inspirational ideas: Forest monitoring for sustainable management - ES
• Inspirational ideas: Spruce needle juice - A product with health benefits which also adds value to the forest - ES
• Inspirational ideas: Preventing forest fires in Portugal - PT
• Inspirational ideas: Agroforestry- a win-win for nature and the farmer - DE
• Inspirational ideas: Cork for 3D printing - ES
• Inspirational ideas: Birch sap tapping in Finland - FI

Horizon 2020 projects

• Multi-actor: There are many Horizon 2020 multi-actor projects on forestry, such as:
  • ALTERFOR - Alternative models and robust decision-making for future forest management: website - CORDIS (04/2016-09/2020)
  • i2connect - Connecting advisers to boost interactive innovation in agriculture and forestry: website - CORDIS (11/2019 – 10-2024)
  • HOMED - HOlistic Management of Emerging forest pests and Diseases: CORDIS (10/2018-09/2022)
  • InnoForESt - Smart information, governance and business innovations for sustainable supply and payment mechanisms for forest ecosystem services: website -  CORDIS (11/2017-10/2020)
  • SINCERE - Spurring INnovations for Forest ECosystem SERvices in Europe: website - CORDIS (01/2018-12/2021)

  • CONSOLE - CONtract SOLutions for Effective and lasting delivery of agri-environmental-climate public goods by EU agriculture and forestry: website - CORDIS (05/2019-04/2022)

  • Click here to see more
• Thematic networks:
  • AGRIFORVALOR - Bringing added value to agriculture and forest sectors by closing the research and innovation divide to valorize and exploit sidestream biomass resources from agriculture and forestry: website - CORDIS (Thematic Network – 03/2016-08/2018)
  • AFINET - Agroforestry Innovation Networks: website - CORDIS (Thematic network – 01/2017-12/2019)
  • ROSEWOOD4.0 - EU Network of Regions on sustainable wood mobilisation ready for digitalisation: website - CORDIS (01/2020-12/2021)
  • INCREDIBLE, Horizon 2020 thematic network - link

Operational Groups

Around 100 Operational Group projects focus on finding innovative solutions for forestry. Check them out on the EIP-AGRI database through this link.