The first objective of this project is the assessment of participative approaches to mountain forest ecosystem management in Europe. Within the objective, there are three sub-objectives:

OPERAS aims to improve the understanding of how Ecosystem Services/Natural Capital (ES/NC) concepts may contribute to human well-being in different social-ecological systems in inland and coastal zones, in rural and urban areas, related to different ecosystems including forests and fresh water resources. The OPERAs research will establish whether, how and under what conditions the ES/NC concepts can move beyond the academic domain towards practical implementation in support of sustainable ecosystem management.

Lack of information, capacities and knowledge at different stages of the non-wood forest products (NWFP) value chain, often prevents realising the full potential of NWFP and multi-purpose trees (MPT) in generating wealth in rural areas in the context of a bio-based European economy.  The goal of this project is to provide better understanding, knowledge, guidance and tools to support relevant stakeholders in optimising the management of MPT and developing innovative approaches for increasing the marketability and profitability of NWFP for a more competitive rural economy.

The aim of NEWFOREX project was to develop new methodologies for valuing and marketing currently non-marketable forest functions, goods and services, identifying the beneficiaries, assessing the cost of provision of externalities and providing policy recommendations. These took place in five EU case studies and one developing country case study, covering key externalities: carbon sequestration, biodiversity protection, watershed services and recreation.

The main objectives of the project were the following:

SylvaMED was an international project under the MED Programme of the European Commission, coordinated by the Forest Sciences Center of Catalonia (CTFC) and involving six partners from different Mediterranean countries: Slovenia, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Languedoc-Roussillon (France), Reggio Liguria (Italy), Crete (Greece), Catalonia (Spain).

Wealth Accounting and the Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES) is a World Bank-facilitated global partnership that aims to promote sustainable development by mainstreaming Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) in countries’ development planning and national accounting systems.