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Category: Bioeconomy

From Woodpeckers to WoodcuttersWageningen group

From Woodpeckers to Woodcutters

Published June 25, 2026 by Annabel Burg

A Wageningen University Research Visit to Sweden’s Forests

By Annabel Burg, Sietse van der Woude, Maximilian Schulte, Linus Bockenhoff, Johannes Reiche, Gert-Jan Nabuurs; and photos by Sietse van der Woude

On the morning of Sunday, we had finally arrived in Umeå. The trip had been months in the making: a research exchange between Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), woven into a packed week of field visits, industry meetings, and policy discussions stretching across the country. By the end of the week, our group of six (Gert-Jan, Maximilian, Annabel, Linus, Sietse, and Johannes) would cover roughly the length of Sweden, from the boreal forests of Umeå in the North to the mixed woodlands near Gothenburg in the South. And we exchanged on several projects where we collaborate with EFI: from Wildcard to FORWARDS and Monifun.

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What are sustainable economic activities and who defines them? A deep look into EU policy making on sustainable finance and forests – new paper publishedImage by Adobe Stock

What are sustainable economic activities and who defines them? A deep look into EU policy making on sustainable finance and forests – new paper published

Published May 26, 2025 by Georg Winkel

Imagine a world where money would do only good. Imagine a world where investors and companies would consider sustainability aspects in all their decisions. Imagine…

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Waldbewirtschaftung in Zeiten von klimabedingten Störungen – Workshop für die Forstpraxis  Marteloscop-Software

Waldbewirtschaftung in Zeiten von klimabedingten Störungen – Workshop für die Forstpraxis  

Published August 26, 2024 by Shanqing Gao

Die Bewirtschaftung eines Waldes kann zu Konflikten führen, die in den unterschiedlichen Bedürfnissen an den Wald begründet sind. Für die einen steht zum Beispiel die Förderung der Biodiversität im Vordergrund, für die anderen die Holznutzung, und wiederum andere priorisieren die Rolle des Waldes als Kohlenstoffsenke. Jede Perspektive ist wichtig, jedes Bedürfnis kritisch, aber es ist nicht immer leicht, einen gemeinsamen Nenner zu finden. Deshalb benötigen wir adaptive Politiken und Strategien, die diese verschiedenen Prioritäten zusammen- und – wenn möglich – miteinander in Einklang bringen 

Um diese Herausforderungen zusammen zu erforschen, laden wir Sie zu unserer Workshopreihe „Waldbewirtschaftung in Zeiten von klimabedingtem Stress und Störungen: Umsetzung von Politikszenarien für resiliente Wälder“ ein. Mit diesen Workshops, die gemeinsam vom European Forest Institute (EFI) und der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg organisiert werden, untersuchen wir die Auswirkungen verschiedener politischer Szenarien auf die Waldbewirtschaftung, die biologische Vielfalt und die Reaktionen verschiedener Waldökosysteme auf (klimabedingten) Stress und Störungen.  

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What foresters want

What foresters want

Published September 25, 2023 by Jakob Derks

Recently there has been broad political interest in alternative forest management systems, in response factors that call for a rethinking of production-oriented forestry, including biodiversity concerns, resilience issues and socio-economic changes. The EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 for example calls for the development of nature-oriented forestry practices to safeguard biodiversity and rural livelihoods. Moreover, it sets a target for 30% of the European land cover to be under some sort of protection scheme, with 10% being strictly protected. Correspondingly, the EU Forest Strategy for 2030 proposes Closer-to-Nature forestry as the forestry concept to help achieve these goals.

So far for the goals and aspirations of policy makers. But how do these aims relate to the reality on the ground, and how keen are forest managers to make that vision come true? Those are the questions we sought to answer in our newly published paper Integrating nature conservation measures in european forest management – An exploratory study of barriers and drivers in 9 european countries – ScienceDirect.

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How forest owners can guarantee an income in times of uncertainty 

How forest owners can guarantee an income in times of uncertainty 

Published September 14, 2023 by Sara Uzquiano

What I learned about the challenges for German forests and their owners, about future-oriented management and collaboration between forest science and practice when exploring the Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg county with my EFI Bonn team 

It is only a few months since I joined EFI, but of course, I have known the institution for a long time. And I must confess that I have always loved its catchy slogan: “Connecting Knowledge to action”. Thus, since I started working here, I have been looking forward to meeting and congratulating whoever would have created such an inspiring sentence. But recently I have found out that this slogan just simple and merely defines what we do at EFI, and I am going to tell you why.   

On Tuesday 22nd. August, we had our annual “Day out”, where EFI Bonn goes to the forest and discusses practical forest-related issues. We visited a forest located only one hour and a half Northeast of the city of Bonn, in the Northeastern part of Rhineland-Palatinate. It was not my first time visiting a German forest, but it was my first time seeing a German forest through the eyes of local practitioners.

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Why Integrative Forest Management requires integrative solutionsDiscussions in the forest

Why Integrative Forest Management requires integrative solutions

Published September 7, 2023 by Silvester Boonen

In times of climate change and related global challenges, forests are both under threat and considered important allies to mitigate climate change. Demand for our forests is accordingly high, so we ask ourselves: Could Integrative Forest Management – a management method that integrates several forest ecosystem services – serve as one of the solutions? And if yes – how can we make all stakeholders concerned with forests part of this solution? What role does effective communication play in this? With the webinar “Integrative Forest Management requires integrative solutions” on 4th July organized by the Integrate Network, and hosted by the current Integrate chair, Michel Leytem (Luxembourg), we aimed at a solution-oriented discussion on tested methods and best practice approaches for overcoming silos and integrating the wide range of interests in forest ecosystems. Our panelists were Dr. Susanne Winter (WWF), Teresa Baiges (Centre de la Propietat Forestal, Catalonia), Sabrina Dietz (FACE), and Giovanni Santopuoli (Unimol). The panel was moderated by Jakob Derks (WUR, Landmax).

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Connecting nature conservation and forest managementLively discussions amongst participants during a training exercise in the marteloscope Jägerhäuschen in the Kottenforst.

Connecting nature conservation and forest management

Published May 31, 2023 by Silvester Boonen

Why the best exchange of knowledge&experiences about forests usually happens in the forest

Have you ever heard of the ADAPT Project, a project implemented by IUCN to increase ecosystem and community resilience to climate change and disaster risks by applying Nature-based solutions in the Western Balkans? I in fact haven’t, until recently I met some of the project partners when the Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECARO) of IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) organized in collaboration with diverse partners and country representatives from the Balkan region a four-day study tour to Bonn. The tour had the goal to exchange experiences and knowledge of nature-based solutions that may find application to the Western Balkan region.    

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Integrative forest management requires integrative solutions

Integrative forest management requires integrative solutions

Published May 24, 2023 by Gabriela Rueda

Good practices for engaging different perspectives on forests. Register now for the next Integrate Webinar!

How can we manage our forests in the best way – both beneficial for nature and people? How can we integrate different forest functions and ecosystem services, and address trade-offs in forest management? What can we do to improve the communication and knowledge exchange between stakeholders who have “skin in the game” and potentially conflicting interests?

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