The eForestry project is part of the investment "Digital Transition in Agriculture, Food, and Forestry," which contributes to the digital transition under the Recovery and Resilience Plan.
Project Title: New Operational e-Services in Agriculture, Food, and Forestry: eForestry within the Recovery and Resilience Plan.
Investment Lead: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Food
Partners: Slovenian Forest Service and Slovenian Forestry Institute
Purpose: The eForestry project funds and co-funds the implementation of new operational e-services in forestry.
Without an ambitious digital transition, it will not be possible to measure and evaluate the effects of forestry policy—digitalization and modernization of data and the ability to connect these databases with environmental and spatial databases, etc. The agriculture, food, and forestry sector also faces challenges in meeting EU environmental and climate targets. Without digitalization, it will not be possible to simplify the implementation of forestry administrative procedures and professional tasks. Currently, there are various records, registers, and databases in the forestry sector that are not sufficiently interconnected, which hinders effective sector management in complex global processes (such as COVID-19, climate change, and pressures on natural resources).
In forestry, the change brings:
- A direct response to the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis and strengthens the sector's preparedness for similar future challenges.
- Simplifications in administrative procedures for implementing forestry policy measures, reducing administrative burdens for beneficiaries.
- A unified digital entry point for access to databases and tools for improved forest management.
- Greater efficiency, speed, rationalization of professional and administrative tasks, uninterrupted customer service, and
- Leverage for better data-driven decision-making and targeted measures, their monitoring, and evaluation (e.g., the impact of forestry on natural resources).
Goal: In the forestry sector, eForestry will upgrade infrastructure and basic resources, connect stakeholders in the forest process through digitalization and centralization of processes, and ensure user-friendly digital public services. The digital transformation will thus ensure the rationalization of administrative and inspection tasks and, above all, more efficient and faster customer service.
Results:
- Improved connectivity of the public forestry service and equipping the public forestry service with e-offices and e-equipment.
- Establishment of a data warehouse managed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Food with the Slovenian Forest Service and Slovenian Forestry Institute as secondary budget users, who produce the data and stakeholders in the field.
- Development of a comprehensive and modern information system that will provide effective support for implementing forestry and environmental policy tasks.
- Digitalization and upgrading of already digitalized key data collections in forestry (12 modules of data collections) to ensure connectivity between databases at national and international levels.
- Digitalization of public forestry service tasks to achieve administrative and managerial relief.
- Establishment of the E-forest application. Forest owners and managers will have access to the history of forest development and management and the realization of possible implementations through the E-forest application. They will also have an overview of the current state of the timber market and forest production costs.
Timeline: The project started on July 1, 2022, and will last until December 31, 2026.
Annual Results:
2024: Use of e-offices and e-equipment in forestry
2026: Forestry information system
2026: E-forest application
Budget for the Slovenian Forestry Institute: €1,324,783
Alignment with EU Strategies: Investment in the digital transition in forestry supports the objectives of the future Common Agricultural Policy and the goals of the European Green Deal, along with two key strategies derived from this deal: the EU Forest Strategy and the Biodiversity Strategy to 2030.
