Title of the project: Transforming forest management for multiple ecosystem services and nature conservation via the integrative approach
Akronym: TRANSFORMIT
Project number: 101135263
Trajanje: 1.1.2024 – 31.12.2027
Budget: overall 6,9 million €
Financing: 100 % European Comission
Programme: HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions
Partnership: 16 partners from 12 countries
Lead partner: European Forest Institute (EFI)
The main objective is to improve and showcase the effectiveness of Integrative Forest Management (IFM) for integrating multiple, and sometimes opposing, societal demands to forests. We aim to provide tangible examples of sustainable forest management principles “in action” through our seven Living Labs. With hands-on demonstrations, field trials, decision support tools and collaborative workshops, we will enable stakeholders to witness the practical application of IFM approaches. Eventually, we will share insights and lessons learnt via a virtual IFM Knowledge Hub. With our Stakeholder Engagement Platform and related activities, we aim to create new synergies between diverse stakeholders, including forestry bodies, forest managers forest owners, research institutions, certification bodies and other interested actors. We also aim to support EU forest policy targets related to the EU Green Deal, Biodiversity Strategy, and the EU Forest Strategy 2030, by developing a set of evidence-based guidelines for upscaling IFM recommendations.
Our objectives:
- Promote Integrative Forest Management (IFM) by establishing seven Living Labs across Europe, serving as models to spread IFM principles and best practices.
- Develop a Stakeholder Engagement Platform for intensive collaboration, mutual learning and sharing of knowledge to exploit synergies and minimise trade-offs in forest management.
- Create a set of practical IFM recommendations and evidence-based guidelines for upscaling and addressing multiple objectives of forest management.
- Demonstrate and verify IFM actions to help achieve EU forest policy targets as part of the EU Green Deal, Biodiversity Strategy and the EU Forest Strategy 2030.
- Demonstrate approaches for the diversification of IFM methods and appropriate use with a strong involvement of practitioners.
- Promote the use of Decision Support Tools, (DSTs) forest modelling and innovative technologies to address effects of different forest management approaches on ecosystem services provision and climate change effects.
- Share knowledge on IFM via workshops, webinars and events, and connect with science and practice stakeholders beyond Europe, and specifically with China and North America.
- Apply context-dependent interdisciplinary methods to create and promote knowledge on IFM practices fostering climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation, resilience enhancement and ecosystem restoration.
- Develop educational material to support teaching of IFM in curricula of universities and forestry colleges.
