Recreational use of urban forests vs. sustainability: OptFor-EU investigates on the struggle in its new paper
We are glad to announce the publication of a new scientific article, Mountain bike trails in urban forests: Meeting recreation demands in Vienna and Zurich, mainly authored by the OptFor-EU partner BOKU on Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism. The paper investigates the struggles related to the recreational use of urban forests, focusing on illegal […]
New Framework by Optfor-EU allows for high-quality harmonised Forest-Climate Data
The latest OptFor-EU report “Development of an Open-Access Code to Harmonize Forest-Climate Data” introduces a powerful data harmonisation framework, ensuring that diverse forest and climate datasets can be integrated, compared, and applied effectively in forest management and climate modeling. This report presents a standardized approach to collecting and processing critical climate and forest data sets. […]
From Data to Action: A Comprehensive Database for Sustainable Forest Management outlined in the new optfor-EU report
We are pleased to announce the release of the latest OptFor-EU report: “Database Including Forest Types, Forest Ecosystem Services, and Management Practices in each case study area”. The report explains the OptFor-EU process for data collection regarding European Forest Types (EFT), Forest Ecosystem Services (FES), Forest Management Practices (FMP), and Socio-Economic indicators (SE) in each […]
Forest Management 2.0: Key Insights from the OptFor-EU Mid-Term Conference and the Forest Innovation Workshop
The 6th edition of the Forest Innovation Workshop was held on February 11 and 12 in Brussles and organised by the ERIAFF network (European Regions for Innovation in Agriculture, Food and Forestry), the European Forest Institute (EFI) and its Bioregions Facility, the European Confederation of Forest Owners (CEPF), the European State Forest Association (EUSTAFOR), the European Farmers and Agri-Cooperatives (COPA-COGECA), […]
Harnessing the potential of European forest ecosystem services: OptFor-EU gives key recommendations in its first policy brief
Forests offer essential services like carbon sequestration, biodiversity support, water regulation and timber for commercial activities/production. However, the future sustainability of such services is increasingly under threat. Based on the habitats assessments reported under the Habitats Directive updated in 2023, forestry presents the highest proportion of habitats being affected by one or more pressures/threats from […]
New Report from OptFor-EU advances forest management with high-resolution land cover data
We are pleased to announce the publication of the new OptFor-EU report Methodology of Land Cover Datasets for Global and Regional Climate Models. This report represents a significant step forward in understanding and managing the relationship between Europe’s forests and its changing climate. This report presents the development of three new high-level datasets contributing to […]
Promoting climate resilience through forest management: Perspectives from OptFor-EU’s case study analysis and modelling innovations
The latest report from the OptFor-EU project highlights advancements in forest management practices within its Case Study Areas (Austria, Romania, and Italy) and explores their implications under varying climate scenarios. The report provides key insights on the integration of these practices into climate models, highlighting the importance of forest management in mitigating climate change impacts […]
Climate Change and Forests: New scientific papers from OptFor-EU Reveal Vulnerability and Resilience
OptFor-EU partners have just published three new scientific articles: Modelling branch surface area of Fagus sylvatica L., Early-successional species show higher tolerance of drought than late-successional species across Europe and Causes and Impacts of Flood Events in Emilia-Romagna (Italy) in May 2023. The three articles were mainly authored respectively by the OptFor-EU partners BOKU, INCDS and CNR […]
Key Practice Abstracts by OptFor-EU: New factsheets show ways to enhance Forest Management and Stakeholder Engagement
OptFor-EU is creating a series of factsheets, the practice abstracts, to play a crucial role in fostering collaboration, sharing knowledge, and advancing sustainable agriculture and forest management within the EU. These first abstracts focus on two key project reports: These practice abstracts were produced to emphasise the significance of these reports and give short overviews […]
New report by OptFor-EU shows the project contributions to a low-carbon and climate-resilient EU
Τhe OptFor-EU project forms one of the enablers towards optimized forest management in Europe within the guidelines of the European Green Deal and New EU Forest Strategy 2030. OptFor-EU, being a project under the Horizon Europe programme, is developing innovative solutions that contribute to a low-carbon and climate-resilient future. In this framework, the project published […]