The idea of Integrative Forest Management (IFM) is well-established, but so far it is lacking operational elements in verification, monitoring, guidance, and Europe-wide implementation. This is exactly what the HorizonEurope-funded project TRANSFORMIT is tackling: TRANSFORMIT will demonstrate and improve the effectiveness of IFM to combine productive forestry and biodiversity conservation by integrating existing practical and scientific knowledge, and to stipulate collaboration and mutual learning amongst science, policy, and practice in Europe and internationally. As a coordination and support action, TRANSFORMIT will lay the basis for larger scale implementation of IFM through proactive engagement with well-established networks, such as the Integrate Network for which EFI acts as secretariat. Capitalizing on this strong network, TRANSFORMIT will:
- Promote IFM though the establishment of seven Living Labs that serve as role models to spread IFM across European regions.
- Create a Stakeholder Engagement Platform for intensive collaboration, mutual learning and sharing of knowledge among conservation and forestry bodies, forest managers, forest owners, research institutions, certification bodies and other interested stakeholders to exploit synergies and minimise trade-offs in forest management.
- Develop a set of practical IFM recommendations and evidence-based guidelines for upscaling and addressing multiple, possibly conflicting objectives of forest management to promote biodiversity conservation, increase forest resilience and mitigate the impacts of forest disturbances, while supporting socio-economic goals of forest management based on an effective usage and benefits of forest resources and ecosystem services.
- Demonstrate and verify that IFM measures help achieve EU forest policy targets as part of the EU Green Deal, Biodiversity Strategy, and the EU Forest Strategy 2030 by integrating different forest functions including biodiversity, bioeconomy, ecosystem restoration, resilience, climate change mitigation and adaptation.
- Showcase approaches for the diversification of IFM methods and appropriate use in a given context (“context-dependent integrative forest management”) based on a combination of different scientific disciplines, strong involvement of practitioners, forest owners, researchers, forest advisors, nature conservation managers, as well as in the field of education, training, and biodiversity monitoring systems.
- Demonstrate the active use of Decision Support Tools (DSTs) and forest modelling as well as innovative technologies such as game engine-driven interactive digital twins of forest that can be applied in forest management and decision-making.
- Share knowledge on IFM via workshops, webinars and back-to-back meetings with involved networks, project and stakeholder events to create a multiplication effect of project activities all across Europe and connect with science and practice stakeholders beyond Europe, and specifically with China and North-America.
- Apply context-dependent trans-disciplinary methods in a range from social sciences to forest monitoring, to create and promote enhanced knowledge on IFM practices and their embedding to climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation, resilience enhancement and ecosystem restoration.
- Develop educational material to support teaching of IFM in curricula of universities and forestry colleges.
EFI coordinates TRANSFORMIT and leads the work package on Stakeholder Engagement, Dissemination and Communications, as well as the work package on Participatory learning, dissemination and exploitation. Furthermore, EFI supports the coordination of the Living Labs. Finally, EFI will contribute in various ways to the work package on International Collaboration, Synthesis and Learning.