Do climate adaptation, mitigation and biodiversity conservation goals walk hand in hand when it comes to the management of Europe’s forests? Or are they closely related, but essentially different pursuits? To unravel the complexities of the topic, EFI and IUCN invited representatives from the EU Commission, academia, and the advocacy and policy arenas to debate...
Getting to the forest before sunrise, hugging trees to determine their diameter, spotting microhabitats despite rainy and foggy weather – setting up a marteloscope site is not a walk in the park. But as you can read in this illustrative blogpost by Jakob Derks, it is an interesting procedure, and an important contribution to enable...
From October 2020 to October 2021, Switzerland was Chair of the European Integrate Network, with Christoph Dürr representing Switzerland in his role as a Chairmen. With his broad experience in international negotiations, his constant inputs and his dedication to the Networks’ objectives, Christoph significantly contributed to keeping the Network members engaged during this difficult year....
How can we improve the management of our forests to make them more resilient to impacts of climate change and the increased risk of disturbances? What can we do to first predict and then adapt to change? How can we enhance biodiversity in our forests while still provide wood for the bioeconomy? What can we...
Since the First National Meeting of the Integrate Network in Spain (more details here), Spanish partners of the Network have been working in the development of the booklet of the “Monte de Valsaín” Marteloscope (to be published soon). This process has led to engaging discussions about many topics, from the main challenges related to forest...
How will climate change affect England’s trees and woodlands? What measures can be taken to minimize risks and ensure the protection of woodlands for future generations? How to cope with simultaneous threats such as tree pests and diseases? Based on the UK Forestry Standard’s governmental approach for sustainable forest management, the Forestry Commission published a...
Outbreaks of bark beetles have devastated vast swaths of forests across Europe, flooding media headlines and concerning forest owners, managers, policy-makers, and the public. The outbreaks affected many countries such as Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, Germany, Sweden, or France and challenged not only forest management but entire societies. The unprecedented areas of dead and often...
Ireland is one of the few countries in Europe that experienced almost complete deforestation in recent history with just over 1% forest cover remaining at the beginning of the 1900s. Since then, an impressive effort has been made by the State of Ireland and other stakeholders to increase forest cover – but the Irish plan...
It sounds like a paradise: Being the largest protected river basin in Europe, the transboundary Mura-Drava-Danube is about to become the first five-country (Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia and Serbia) biosphere reserve in the world under the auspices of UNESCO. The reserve covers an area of about 8,300 km2, which is comparable to more than one million soccer fields. Being extremely rich in biodiversity, it harbours high ecological and...
If you ask stakeholders all over Europe “What should we do with our old-growth forests?”, you can expect eyebrows to be raised. Discussions start with questions continuing to circle at policy level and in academia on how old-growth forest should be defined. Similarly, we face unresolved issues on how to implement the targets of the...
