Title of the project: Forest surveillance with artificial intelligence and digital technologies
Akronym: FORSAID
Project number: 101134200
Period: 1.9.2024 – 29.2.2028
Budget: 4.991.187 €
Financing: 100 % European Comission
Programme: HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
Partnership: 17 partners from 10 countries
Lead partner: University of Padova (IT)
Background
Because of globalisation and climate change, the landscape of forest pest species distribution has changed dramatically. This places the future of plant health in one of Europe’s key biomes in jeopardy, a fact that the European Union (EU) has become increasingly aware of. To combat and prevent large-scale pest outbreaks of the kind that forests have seen in recent years, the Union has taken concrete steps to classify and regulate a number of those harmful species. Moreover, national forest inventories have been in steady development in their deployment as monitors of plant health status. Nevertheless, these measures by themselves, while significant and necessary, are not sufficient to counter the threat of forest pests in its entirety. More innovative digital technologies can and should be harnessed to increase our preparedness to face pest proliferation in a variety of forest settings, with a comprehensive economic analysis to back up that practice.
Objective
The overall objective of FORSAID is to incorporate novel digital solutions in the fight against forest pests in Europe. In this sense, the project is seeking to build up and firmly establish a novel and comprehensive paradigm for identifying, observing and containing pest proliferations across Europe. Specifically, several EU-regulated pest species that have a particularly substantial negative impact on plant health will be targeted.
FORSAID will:
- Develop an early detection and surveillance framework for select EU-regulated forest pests via remote sensing technologies.
- Harness the potential and existing contribution of citizen science as a valuable resource in pest control by helping to introduce new common-use tools and approaches for the management of threat-posing insect species.
- Conduct experimental testing aimed at easing the automatic ground detection of pest species via AI-assisted tools for robotic DNA barcoding.
- Integrate all preceding outputs into a proposal for a comprehensive and coherent monitoring and assessment system for regulated pests.
Work Packages
WP1 - Project management and coordination
Led by the University of Padova (Italy), WP1 will:
- Establish a strategic coordination framework for the project to ensure the relevance of all activities
- Set up processes for scientific supervision
- Institute a paradigm for financial and administrative management of the consortium
- Ensure the presence of an IP protection mechanism for the project’s results and technologies
WP2 - Remote sensing of forest damage
Led by the INRAE (France), WP2 will:
- Employ satellite remote sensing technology and datasets for large-scale detection of forest stressors
- Utilise aerial remote sensing technology for regional-level assessment of tree damage
- Monitor young tree populations for potential pest infestations via machine vision systems
WP3 - Digital technologies for ground detection and surveillance of regulated pests
Led by the Forest Research Center, University of Lisbon (Portugal), WP3 will:
- Adapt and optimise automated insect trap devices to provide reliable and detailed data on the proliferation of pests
- Develop robotized sorting and image analysis to sort insect specimens from generic traps and assign specimens to target regulated species
- Carry out experimental tests for the detection and metabarcoding of target organisms via environmental DNA samples of microbiomes
WP4 - Citizen science
Led by the Slovenian Forestry Institute (Slovenia), WP4 will:
- Explore ways of harnessing and enhancing the data and digital tools at the disposal of “citizen scientists” involved with pest control
- Co-create new tailor-made citizen science projects via dedicated workshops and other events with relevant societal actors
WP5 - Deployment strategy with stakeholders
Led by INRAE (France), WP5 will:
- Consult stakeholders to identify barriers and opportunities behind the mass roll-out of new digital technologies for pest detection
- Conduct a cost-benefit analysis of appropriate digital solutions for the surveillance of regulated forest pests
- Produce a multicriteria analysis of operational solutions for the monitoring of forest pests and their potential mass deployment
WP6 - Communication, dissemination and exploitation
Led by Pensoft Publishers (Bulgaria), WP6 will:
- Provide a distinct identity of the project and its services via branding, visualisations, a project website and an elaborated dissemination and communication strategy
- Ensure that FORSAID activities engage relevant stakeholders effectively to connect the project’s outputs to science, policy, corporate and civil actors that can help ensure FORSAID results’ long-term application and legacy
- Pursue synergies in the context of other relevant forest management projects, networks and initiatives
Project Consortium
The consortium of FORSAID brings together experts from diverse academic, scientific and public policy backgrounds from across the European continent. This international team will chart the future of pest control in the EU’s forests and beyond via innovative digital and technological tools. Ten countries are represented in this diverse congregation.
17 project partners:
- University of Padova (UNIPD) - https://www.unipd.it/en/
- Telespazio France SAS (TPZF) - https://www.telespazio.com/en/france
- University of Copenhagen (UCPH) - https://www.ku.dk/en
- The National Research Council (CNR) - https://www.cnr.it/en
- European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO) - https://www.eppo.int/
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) - https://www.wsl.ch/en/
- Ukrainian National Forestry University (UNFU) - https://quarsu.nltu.edu.ua/en/nltu
- European Institute of Planted Forest (IEFC) - https://www.plantedforests.org/
- Linnaeus University (LNU) - https://lnu.se/en/
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) - https://www.kit.edu/english/
- National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE) - https://www.inrae.fr/en
- EFOS Information Solutions D.O.O. (EFOS) - https://www.efos.si/
- Slovenian Forestry Institute (SFI) - https://www.gozdis.si/en/
- Museum für Naturkunde - Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science (MfN) - https://www.museumfuernaturkunde.berlin/en/about/museum
- Forest Research Centre (CEF) - https://www.isa.ulisboa.pt/cef/en/
- National Institute for Agricultural and Veterinary Research (INIAV) - https://www.iniav.pt/
- Pensoft Publishers (PENSOFT) - https://pensoft.net
Photo: Kick-off meeting in Padua, Italy.
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Project Coordinator
Andrea Battisti, University of Padua (UNIPD), andrea.battisti@unipd.it
Contact in Slovenia: dr. Maarten de Groot, Slovenian Forestry Institute, maarten.degroot@gozdis.si