Confirmed: State Forest managers are frontrunners in Forest Innovation

The 3rd Edition of the Workshop “Inform-Prioritize-Collaborate: Cooperation of Regions on Innovation in Forest Management, Use of Wood and Forest-related Services” which was held on 26 April 2018 in Brussels showcased many innovation cases in several areas of Sustainable Forest Management. Key presentations by Coillte and Metsähallitus. European Regions in the spotlight.

The workshop was organised by EUSTAFOR, CEPF, Copa-Cogeca, EFI, ERIAFF Network, ERRIN, Euromontana, supported by Bavaria State Forest, it was held on 26 April 2018 in Brussels, kindly hosted by the Representation of the Free State of Bavaria to the European Union.

The main objectives of the 3rd edition were:

• Presenting relevant innovative initiatives from all over Europe, with a special attention to EIP AGRI Operational Groups;
• Connecting experts and practitioners to further improve existing projects and provide inspiration;
• Encourage further public and private investments in innovative projects devoted to forest-based economy.

The workshop developed around four main topics in connection to innovation:

• Managing Impacts related to Climate Change
• Supporting Wood and Biomass Mobilization
• Supporting the Provision of Ecosystem Services
• Improving Sustainable Forest Management Approaches and Tools

Mark Carlin, Director of Forest Operations at Coillte (Irish state forests) presented SATMODO – Timber Harvesting Information & Communication Technology which was developed to create one single platform to integrate all harvesting information to and from all of Coillte’s harvesting sites. The Satmodo platform is designed to optimise operational efficiency, reduce waste and improve environmental sustainability. The main aim of this technology is to provide ‘live’ data communications.

Kaisa Vainio from Metsähallitus (Finnish State Forests) delivered a presentation on a new method developed by Metsähallitus, which sets new forest management targets are defined based on CO2 binding and C storage. Each of Finnish State Forests 10 million compartments in GIS-data has been classified into seven classes. E.g. in habitats and areas where growth possibilities are good, management objectives emphasize enhancing forest growth and production. In areas and habitats with lower growth potential and/or land use restrictions the management priorities forest health, multiple use of forests and carbon storage. Seven classes offer the instructions for forestry planning by taking into account climate sustainability.

Still, Regions were at the core of the workshop, and in some cases, as for Spain and Italy, Regional Services are in charge of forest management for state forests.

EUSTAFOR was also invited to chair the session about climate change, and in the concluding report from the session, Salvatore Martire (from EUSTAFOR Executive Office), which was chairing the session, stated how climate change adaptation is a priority for forestry and this should be recognized by the upcoming new CAP.

All in all, the workshop showcased main good example and input to advance Sustainable Forest Management in Europe, and it confirmed the high level expertise State Forest Management Organizations can deliver.

Materials of the workshop are available from this link: https://www.eustafor.eu/2018-forest-inno…ns-now-available/