"The project ""Network of knowledge for efficient private forests - Net4Forest (2018 -2021)"" aimed to develop and promote the vocational education and training for private forest owners. Behind the delivery of the many services that forests provide are people - forest owners with a wide range of skills. The increasing multifunctional role of forests in the transition to a sustainable future requires more skills. Information on the marketing of forest products and valuation of forest services is widely available in the participating countries and in the EU, but there is a lack of information, guidelines and training materials suitable for practical application by forest owners. Therefore, the main long-term objective of Net4Forest was to develop training materials and practical tools for forest owners to increase income from their forests.Experts from 5 European countries (Slovenia, Latvia, Estonia, Sweden and Spain) participated in the Net4Forest project. They all have different knowledge and traditions in managing private forests. The exchange of knowledge, experience and examples of good practice between the project partners gave us the opportunity to develop innovative training and information materials.The main target groups involved in this project were: trainers (they served as a tool to reach the large groups of private forest owners), forest owners (they were directly involved through local seminars), different stakeholders from the forest sector (especially educational and training organizations) and young people just entering the forest sector (students, young practitioners were involved through the presentation of tools through different social media platforms).Developed intellectual outputs represent a collection of existing knowledge and newly developed tools. They were presented and discussed in different events. Organized events provided an opportunity to raise awareness among all the target groups involved and beyond. A knowledge network was established by PP through events for the training of staff (Training of trainers - LTT). A total of 4 pieces of training were organized with 112 participants. During the trainings, trainers had the opportunity to learn from each other, share experiences and existing knowledge. Local seminars in each country (we organized 11 seminars in total) were organized to test and promote the project results and outcomes among the project target groups. We directly involved 360 participants in these seminars. At the end of the project, an international final conference was organized where we presented the project results and outcomes with 83 participants. Throughout the project, we used promotional and informational materials to share useful knowledge and information with our target groups. We published 21 articles and more than 60 posts and news on different internet platforms and social media, together reaching more than 60,000 people."

Forest ecosystems cover 42 % of the European Union’s total land area and strong efforts have been made to facilitate an increase of multiple forest ecosystem services to form robust forest stands. However, all ecosystems recently have been hit by rapidly changing climatic conditions, e.g. long lasting droughts, heavy rain events, frequent and intensive storms, pests and forest fires. To address this within future silviculture management concepts, forest operations and wood supply, all stakeholders along the Forest Wood Value Chain will need to form a common idea of future forest management, while none of them can increase its benefit without harming another one. Therefore, four Case Studies Regions will be established, following Europe’s biogeographical regions, to study climate-resilient silvicultural management practices and new methods of seeding and planting by the application of an own engineered topsoil cover based on wood fibres. Corresponding forest operations and concepts of actions in case of disturbances will be developed under selected sustainability criteria. Stakeholders will be activated in the participative process of socio-economic studies. The information will be consolidated in Dynamic Value Chain Model to assess the impact of the Forest-Wood Value Chain on regional development quantified by a set of economic, environmental and social indicators. The newly developed Multi-Criteria Decision Support System visualises decision-making by comparing Sustainable Forest Management, synergies and trade-offs of Forest Ecosystems, reliable wood supply, and stakeholder interests through FWVC indicators of social, economic, and environmental dimensions, by applying methods of Goal Programming. The easy-to-use software application will be available for Forest-Wood Value Chain stakeholders globally. All ONEforest results will be implemented in new Model Forests, being part of the International Model Forest Network for regional adapted forest management concept.

Extreme wildfire events (EWE) are becoming a major environmental, economic and social threat in Southern Europe and increasingly gaining importance elsewhere in Europe. As the limits of fire suppression-centered strategies become evident, practitioners, researchers and policymakers increasingly recognise the need to develop novel approaches that shift emphasis to the root causes and impacts of EWE, moving towards preventive landscape and community management for greater resilience. FIRE-RES integrates existing research, technology, civil protection, policy and governance spheres related to wildfires to innovate processes, methods and tools to effectively promote the implementation of a more holistic fire management approach and support the transition towards more resilient landscapes and communities to EWE. To achieve this, FIRE-RES will, first, generate new knowledge on sustainable integrated fire management models that help to define what type of possible future scenarios (including climate change and general policies) should be promoted across EU territories. Second, it will identify and demonstrate innovations at the technological, social, health/safety, administrative, ecological and economic levels to define how and across which possible paths the future scenarios may be achieved in the EU. These innovations will be implemented in different regional contexts, and upscaled at the national and EU levels using an open innovation hub, promoting capacity building and partnership brokerage between public and private actors. Third, it will raise societal awareness and engagement on wildfire risk prevention, preparedness and response by leveraging existing national and cross-border networks at supranational levels. FIRE-RES is a transdisciplinary, multi-actor consortium, formed by researchers, wildfire agencies, technological companies, industry and civil society from 13 countries, linking to broader networks in science and disaster reduction management.