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HealthyForestRegions

Project overview

Healthy Forest Regions: Supporting Healthy Forest ecosystems for human well-being in forest Regions

Forests are complex ecosystems that store carbon, preserve soils and nurture many animal and plant species. But negligence and unsustainable forest management practices endanger their health and risk biodiversity loss. The HealthyForestRegions project develops concepts to strengthen the commitment of key policy stakeholders to better safeguard forest ecosystems. The partnership also tests new tools and solutions for the transition to ecosystem-based forest management in six regions.

2,78m €

Project Budget

80%

of the Budget is funded by ERDF

Layer 1

6

Countries

8

Regions

9

Partners

7

Pilots

Duration

Start date

End date

Project progress

44%

About the project

The main goal of the HealthyForestRegions (HFR) Project is the preservation and encouragement of healthy forest ecosystems in Central Europe to secure human well-being - now and in the future. The key actors to put that objective into practice are the policy- and decision-makers in certain forested regions. They are the people who have the opportunity and power to make a change and they are the once we aim to offer well-founded explanations and feasible solutions. Therefore, we brought to life a transnational project team with widely spread competences: 2 universities, 2 municipalities, 2 national forest services, 2 nature parks and 1 NGO. In close exchange and cooperation, the project partners work together on three different topics fields/work packages to achieve the project goal. All together, they aim at creating a basement for making decisions that secure forest health and thereby our future: 1. The first work package mainly is about raising awareness, spreading knowledge and implementing pilot actions with regard to anchor the value of regional forests among educational institutions, recreation and tourist organizations and the local population. 2. In the second subject area, a team of project partners deals with offering an alternative income generation for local and regional forest owners and managers instead of cutting and selling timber – a procedure that I often compromising forest health. In expert terms: Forest-based schemes of payments for ecosystem services (PES) are analyzed and developed. 3. The last work package strives for enabling regional policy- and decision-makers to assess the health of the regional forests and the impact the regional regulations and structures are having on it. Based on that, measurements to prevent and further expand forest health are compiled and evolved in a general strategy and a transferable HFR concept.

Project partnership

Project partners

Deutschland (DE)

Lead partner

Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development

Faculty of Forest and Environment, Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management, Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management
Address
Schicklerstrasse 5
16225 Eberswalde
Country
Germany (DE)
Web
www.hnee.de, www.centreforeconomics.org

Project partner

Address
Markt 35
8933 Sankt Gallen
Country
Austria (AT)
Web
www.eisenwurzen.com
Total partner budget
469,704 €
Address
T.G. Masaryka 22
960 01 Zvolen
Country
Slovakia (SK)
Web
https://web.nlcsk.org
Total partner budget
339,159 €
Address
Večna Pot 2
1000 Ljubljana
Country
Slovenia (SI)
Web
www.zgs.si
Total partner budget
538,711 €
Address
Rathaus - Markt 24
16278 Angermuende
Country
Germany (DE)
Web
www.angermuende.de
Total partner budget
191,018 €
Address
Děkanská 74
464 01 Frýdlant
Country
Czechia (CZ)
Web
https://www.masif.cz/
Total partner budget
169,560 €
Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences (FFWS)
Address
Kamýcká 129
165 00 Praha
Country
Czechia (CZ)
Web
https://www.fld.czu.cz/en
Total partner budget
100,040 €
Address
Dr. F. Tuđmana 14a
23244 Starigrad-Paklenica
Country
Croatia (HR)
Web
www.np-paklenica.hr
Total partner budget
206,400 €
Address
Ljubljanska cesta 26
1330 Kočevje
Country
Slovenia (SI)
Web
https://www.kocevje.si/Home?lang=en
Total partner budget
168,120 €

Roadmap

1

Project Kick-off Meeting in Angermünde - 31.05.2023

The HealthyForestRegions project team met for the first time in person in Angermünde to kick-off the Project. All partners jointly achievedfirst stepsin the initial project phase. The Project was introduced to a wider audience, including associated partners and further interested groups. The project partners received the Partnership Agreements from the lead partners. All Partners agreed on the definition and deliniation of the six project target regions.

2

International Online Workshop on Interpretation of Ecosystem Services - 25.09.2023

Online Meeting of the project partners, for a deeper knowledge of the countries and regions, cooperating in the project. Exchange and generate knowledge about the interpretation of healhty forests and the Ecosystem Services they provide for human well-beeing.

3

Regional Workshops on Interpretation of Forest Ecosystem Services - 23.10.2023

Meeting of the czech partners of the HealthyForestRegions project. LAG Frýdlantsko, prepared a regional workshop on interpretive planning for key players in the area, focused on communicating the value of functional forest and their Ecosystem Services contributing to human health and well-being. Representatives of all the above-mentioned key organisations met at the environmental education centre in one of the participating municipalities to discuss possible ways of presenting the natural heritage in the region with the participation of representatives from the Association for the Interpretation of Local Heritage of the Czech Republic.

4

Regional Workshop on Prioritization of Ecosystem Services 20.03.2024

What is the value of a healthy forest? One approach to come closer to an answer is looking at the ecosystem services of a forest – which are benefits that gain people from an ecosystem like a forest. Among those benefits are clean water, wood, binding of carbon and human recreation. How to prioritize the ecosystem services was topic of the workshop that took place in the project target region Poloniny in Slovakia in March 2024. Therefore, different people and organisations, affected by the project (called stakeholders), were invited to identify their economic, ecological and social perspectives. Of course, a discussion was not lacking: Which benefit is more important to whom and why and is it possible to put a price on that value contributing to human well-being?

Pilot actions

Project videos

HealthyForestRegions

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Project on social media

Project Contacts

Project Manager

Jennifer Gruß
Phone: (+49) 3334 / 657534

Finance Manager

Jennifer Gruß
Phone: (+49) 3334 / 657534

Communication Manager

Louisa Janitschke