Scientific report > Implementing Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management in countries of former Yugoslavia
Nature&Society published a report on the Short Term Scientific Mission performed by Fancesca Ferranti at the Biotechnical Faculty of Ljubljana University in June 2015. The Mission was funded by COST Targeted Network TN1401: Capacity Building in Forest Policy and Governance in Western Balkan Region - CAPABAL.. The report includes aims, methods and results of the Mission, which focussed on the implementation of the Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management developed by the FOREST EUROPE process.
Main conclusions of the report regard the complexity of the implementation process of Criteria and Indicators caused by the specific forest governance situation of the region, which finds itself in a period of heavy socio-economic transitions. Sustainable Forest Management is a broadly employed concept in countries of former Yugoslavia, even though its achievement is most of all pursued through national and regional tools than through international ones. The various states arisen after the braking of the Yugoslav federation followed different development paths demonstrated also by the accession of only two out of seven countries to the European Union. These differences resulted in varied national patterns for the implementation of Criteria and Indicators. Results characterzing more countries of foremer Yugoslavia include the fact that Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management are most of all employed for monitoring the forest status than for achieving and verifying Sustainable Forest Management.
Technical report > More fodder for the oven? Dealing with forest-related conflicts arising from the production and use of energy wood in Europe. Results from the COOL project.
Nature&Society contributed to a Technical Report published by the European Forest Institute and other institutions busy with the study of European forests, like Universities and Research Institutes. The report includes the final results of the COOL project (COmpeting uses Of forest Land). The project, carried out in 2012–2014, received funding from the WoodWisdom-Net Research Programme which is a transnational R&D programme jointly funded by national funding organisations within the framework of the ERA-NET WoodWisdom-Net 2.
The report addresses the question of how far the demand for energy wood can be met without compromising other policy objectives and fuelling existing stakeholder conflicts. In order to answer this question, the document describes and compares national policy strategies and forest related management approaches in five European countries (Spain, Slovenia, Norway, Finland and Germany), as well as national stakeholders' perceptions of present and future opportunities and obstacles regarding energy wood. Moreover, it reflects on the relations between national and European priorities and it identifies trade-offs and synergies in the production and use of energy wood. To conclude, the report identifies existing challenges to the reliance on energy wood and it proposes policy recommendations for dealing with these challenges.
To download the report, please follow the link on the report's title
Scientific report > Environmental change in sensitive mountain forests: integrating scientific and practical knowledge.
The report is one of the outputs of the Short Term Scientific Mission carried out by Francesca Ferranti at the University of Torino, Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Sciences. The Mission was carried out in October 2015 and it was funded by COST Action ES1203: Enhancing the resilience capacity of sensitive mountain forests. It describes the information collected during a workshop with forest technicians of northern Italy, which focused on the perception of the effects of climate and land use changes on Alpine forests. Local stakeholders were involved in a comparison between scientific and practical knowledge on the consequences of environmental changes and were asked to test the validity of scientific indicators of forest resilience. These indicators reflected the principles of sustainability and included for example "phenology", "timber production" and "possibilities for hunting and recreation". Stakeholders' participation allowed developing some recommendations for the use of scientific indicators like 1) The definition of the indicators should include threshold values which can be used also to define whether certain values assumed by the indicators have positive or negative impacts on forest resilience and 2) Indicators should be defined through parameters which are measurable through remote sensing technology rather than through the engagement of forest practitioners, as the measuring process is time consuming..
Scientific report > Analyzing success factors of private forest owners' associations in Catalonia (NE Spain).
The report is the main output of the Short Term Scientific Mission carried out by Francesca Ferranti at the Forest Sciences Center of Catalonia. The Mission took place in November 2015 and it was funded by COST Action FP1201 FACESMAP: Forest land Ownership Changes in Europe- Significance for Management and Policy. It includes information on the functioning of forest owners' associations in the region, which were collected through meetings with local researchers and qualitative interviews with stakeholders of the forest sector. The report identifies two types of forest owners' associations: Forest Defense Groups and Forest Management Associations. It also makes clear that the context of associations in the region is influenced by the activity of many other institutions like the Federations of Associations, the forest and agrarian syndicates and the regional and provincial offices dealing with forests.
Book of guidelines > Operational Tools and Guidelines for improving efficiency in wildfire risk reduction in EU landscapes
Nature&Society supported the drafting of a book produced within the FIREfficient project under a collaboration of different academic and non-academic leading research institutes:
-the Forest Sciences Centre of Catalonia,
-the UT-GRAF Fire Service Government of Catalonia,
-the European Forest Institute - Central European Regional Office and the Observatory for European Forests,
-the Fire Ecology and Management Foundation Pau Costa Alcubierre and
-the King’s College London.
The book deals with the need to adapt wildfire risk management strategies to the changing context of risk. Changing conditions of the risk context are mainly determined by the growing impacts of land use and climatic changes.
Scientific Report > Improving integration between forest fire, biomass production and rural development policy objectives. A multilevel and polycentric governance study of European, Spanish and Catalan policies.
The report is the main output of the Short Term Scientific Mission performed by francesca Ferranti between March and April 2016 at the Forest Sciences Center of Catalonia. The Mission was funded by COST Action FP1207 Orchestrating forest-related policy analysis in Europe (ORCHESTRA) and it was dedicated to understanding to which extent policy objectives of forest fire prevention and production of woody biomass for energy were integrated in European, Spanish and Catalan forest-related policies. The report includes an explanation of the methods used in the Mission as well as a description of results. Main results are the literature review carried out on policies at different levels and interviews with key actors of the Catalan forest sector. The report hints also at possible recommendations for improving the integration of the abovementioned policy goals, in light of rural development principles.