Rising demands for a multitude of forest products and ecosystem services worldwide, ask for new forest management concepts. One approach is integrated forest management. It aims at incorporating multiple societal demands within managed forests. Such approaches however may lead to conflicts of interest and ask for trade-offs. Good practices already being applied need to be identified, communicated and if suitable adapted to local conditions. Thus, the exchange of scientific and practical knowledge and experiences is crucial taking into account especially also stakeholders’ needs and concerns. Having such mechanisms available will help promote more fact-based and objective debates, while increasing the understanding for diverging views and perspectives.
The ‘European Policy Network Integrate’ and the ‘European Marteloscope Network’ have been initiated to serve such questions. The European Policy Network Integrate with 21 countries as members and observers has exemplarily demonstrated to be a valuable instrument for providing a space for dialogue, discussions, learning and knowledge exchange for different stakeholder groups from policy, practice, research and society. The European Marteloscope Network consists of now close to 100 field sites in 16 European countries and a broad network of practitioners. The sites are ideal for on-site training and education. How do different silvicultural approaches affect nature conservation and what are the economic impacts? How to incorporate other ecosystem services in forest management and what are the trade-offs? Such and other questions can be addressed in marteloscopes supported by modern IT tools. Target groups for training exercises can range from forest practitioners, nature conservation managers to students, schools and the general public.
The aim of the FoReSite project is to:
- Support the established European Policy Network Integrate in: further developing its strategic profile as nucleus for topics around integrated forest management and seeking options for further continuing its work in the future
- Emphasize cross-discipline, cross-sector and multi-actor exchange for addressing sensitive issues when managing forests for multiple services based on varying demands and
- Highlight the use of field training and educational tools as catalysts for better understanding rationales, effects and trade-offs when implementing integrative forest management measures
Main outcomes of FoReSite will be a set of targeted policy and practice related materials. Those include policy briefs, guidance for implementing ‘science-informed policy debates’, tutorials for practitioners, a toolbox for conducting training in marteloscopes and documenting potentials of utilising the network of marteloscopes in science.
More information at the project website: www.integratenetwork.org