Celebrating ONEforest Innovations on International Day of Forests 2024
Innovation and technology have ushered in a new era of forest monitoring and management, empowering nations to more effectively track and report on their forests' health and dynamics. However, addressing the diverse challenges across regions and incorporating the voices of various stakeholders requires continuous advancements in technology.
This urgent need takes center stage as the theme for International Day of Forests 2024: "Forests and Innovation: New Solutions for a Better World." In the ONEforest project, spanning the past 34 months, our focus has been on delivering innovative solutions to aid decision-makers. Our efforts have centered on assessing Sustainable Forest Management (SFM), examining the interplay of Forest Ecosystem Services (FES), ensuring a sustainable wood supply, enhancing biodiversity, and addressing stakeholder concerns across social, economic, and environmental dimensions.
Our insights stem from four distinct European biogeographical regions: Mediterranean, Boreal-Hemiboreal, Alpine, and Continental, encompassing both EU and non-EU territories. Within each biogeographical region, designated Case Study Regions (CSRs) such as Catalonia in Spain (Mediterranean), the canton of Grisons in Switzerland (Alpine), Hesse and Thuringia in Germany (Continental), and Estonia (Boreal-Hemiboreal), have been meticulously examined. These CSRs cover a diverse spectrum of forest management systems with FES objectives, underscoring their key role in sustainable forest management and biodiversity conservation.
The culmination of the ONEforest project will be unveiled during its Final Conference, titled "INNOVAForONE: Innovations in Forestry and Synergies between EU Networks," scheduled for April 18-19 in Valladolid, Spain. This event will comprehensively showcase and celebrate the project's achievements, particularly highlighting its groundbreaking contributions to its Multicriteria Decision Support System, accessible to stakeholders across the global forest-wood value chain. Moreover, the conference will spotlight the innovative strides made in the European forestry sector under the Horizon Europe Program, with active involvement from key European networks dedicated to forestry.
The event will have the honor of having representatives from the Junta de Castilla y León, the forestry section of the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (European Commission), FAO, the European Forest Institute, the ERIAFF Network, the Mediterranean Model Forest Network, the EFI Bioregions Facility, and the InnovaWood network. Furthermore, related EU-funded projects, such as the FOREST4EU Project, EUFORE, RESONATE, and SMURF, will also be in attendance.
For further details on this significant milestone event, visit our website.
