“We would say that it seems they want to have an EU blanket, one size fits everything, but the forests really depend on where you are. It aims to bring different regional practices and policies under one umbrella.īut doubts remain whether this is the right approach. In July the Commission presented a new strategy, aiming to make forest management more sustainable while boosting the forest-based bio-economy. When it comes to R&D, the EU forest strategy “does not recognise the realities on the ground,” said Johan Elvnert, managing director of the Forest-based Sector Technology Platform, a pan-European network of experts that aim to bring national innovation priorities to the EU level. Industry echoes the concerns about knowledge translation. “There’s a strong bias towards local solutions,” said Lindner. The barrier to facilitating this exchange is that is national funding agencies don’t want to give money outside their countries. One such project, Motive, found there are European level networks of the scientists who carry out forestry research, but none connecting the practitioners who apply it. Lindner has worked on many EFI projects, generating knowledge and attempting to plug it in to improve the situation on the ground.
Each member state takes care of its forests, but the EU sets out general principles for managing them. They are also important economic resources. They prevent soil erosion, purify the air, filter water, prevent erosion, and absorb carbon dioxide. “The challenge is bringing down the knowledge and understanding at European level to more regional decision making,” said Marcus Lindner, principle scientist for the resilience programme at the EU’s European Forest Institute (EFI).įorests cover around 40% of EU land. The EU’s forests would benefit from better knowledge translation and closer links between wood production and biodiversity research and innovation.
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