Two new funding calls to advance forest monitoring and disturbance characterization   

The FORWARDS project, funded under Horizon Europe, has launched two new calls for grants aimed at advancing forest monitoring and disturbance characterization. The projects funded under these calls will contribute to the development of the ForestWard Observatory, a pan-European monitoring tool that addresses the impact of climate change on forests.

Call for Grants 1: Pilots of long-term climate impact forest monitoring sites  

With this call, FORWARDS aims to set up pilots of long-term climate impact forest monitoring sites across Europe. The aim is also to increase the potential of existing forest monitoring sites to assess the impact of climate change on forests. The supported projects will provide ecosystem-level information on the effects of climatic drivers on forest structure in near real-time and better link the ground-based monitoring information to satellite imagery for European forest monitoring.  

Up to five projects will be awarded a maximum of €145,000 each, with activities set to begin in April 2024 and lasting up to 18 months.   

Call for Grants 2: Characterisation of European forest disturbances  

With this call, FORWARDS aims to compile European-wide forest disturbance reference data to (i) produce statistically rigorous estimates of disturbances in Europe, (ii) develop new methods for the near real-time mapping of forest disturbance using remote sensing data, and (iii) support the analysis of the effects of the different forest disturbances types over different forest types in Europe.  

The supported projects should contribute to the development of an exhaustive, open-access forest disturbance reference dataset for Europe.  

Up to three projects will be awarded a maximum of €150,000 each, with activities set to begin in April 2024 and lasting up to 12 months.  

Both of the calls opened on 31 October 2023 and will close on 15 January 2024. For detailed call for grants and guidelines, please visit: https://efi.int/grants-training/grants  

Image: Adobe Stock - nikwaller