Project overview
Healthy Forest Regions: Supporting Healthy Forest ecosystems for human well-being in forest Regions
Can there be healthy people without healthy forests? Without fresh air, clean water, climate regulation, biodiversity, and natural recreation places? The answer is “No”. What we need now is commitment. The HealthyForestRegions project aimed at paving the way for regional inhabitants, actors and decision-makers to secure the remaining healthy forests and support the recovery of those jeopardized by human impact.
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2,78m €
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Project Budget
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80%
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of the Budget is funded by ERDF
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6
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Countries
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8
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Regions
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9
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Partners
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7
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Pilots
Duration
Start date
End date
Project progress
About the project
The main goal of the HealthyForestRegions (HFR) Project was 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 were policy- and decision-makers in certain forested regions. They are the people who have the opportunity and power to make a change. Thus, they are the once we aimed 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 worked together on three different topics fields to achieve the project goal:
The first topic field focused on raising awareness and spreading knowledge about the value of regional forests. It also included implementing pilot actions to anchor this value among educational institutions, recreation and tourism organizations, and the local population.
In the second work field, a team of project partners focused on creating alternative income opportunities for local and regional forest owners and managers. These alternatives aimed to reduce the need for intensive timber harvesting, which often compromises forest health. Specifically, forest-based schemes of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) were being analyzed and developed.
The third topic field aimed to enable regional policymakers and decision-makers to assess the health of local forests. It also examined how regional regulations and structures impact forest conditions. Based on these findings, measures to maintain and support forest health were developed into a General Forest Health Strategy and a transferable HFR Concept.
Project partnership
Project partners
Lead partner
Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development
Faculty of Forest and Environment, Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management, Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management
16225 Eberswalde
Project partner
Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences (FFWS)
1330 Kočevje
Roadmap
What is the project about?
The HealthyForestRegions Project connected 9 Central European partner organizations in 6 different forested European regions to jointly work on the conservation and recovery of regional forests.
What are the problems the project addressed?
Human well-being is deeply connected to the health of regional forests, but their continued existence is jeopardized by intensive forest management practices and timber production, as well as by changing environmental conditions.
The key question...
In order to remain and become healthy, forests need socio-ecological and political conditions that allow them to develop their powers of self-regulation and self-preservation. Thus, the key question is: How can we ensure such conditions?
What is the solution we developed?
To ensure conditions that help forests to self-regulate and regenerate, the HFR Project addressed and supported the people who are in power of influencing those conditions: the regional policy- and decision makers.
What were important steps to reach our objective?
UNDERSTANDING what healthy forests are and what conditions are needed to support them
ADDRESSING the local people and children with diverse forest education and experience offers
DEVELOPING strategies and action plans to become a region with healthy forests that support the well-being of people working, living, and spending their time there
OFFERING alternatives for people who economically depend on timber production
CREATING commitment among regional political and decision-makers to secure the continued existence and recovery of healthy forests.
What impact did we have?
We are proud and grateful to have initiated significant developments across six forest-rich Central European regions. Together with nine partner organisations, we developed practical solutions on three levels: forest education and recreation, ecosystem services, and policy support. These efforts culminated in the Healthy Forest Regions Concept—a transferable framework for forest-based regional development. Most importantly, 28 organisations have formally committed to continuing the collaboration, ensuring that educational programmes, tourism offers, and governance approaches live on in regional initiatives and follow-up projects.
How the HFR Project ideas are carried on
28 organisations involved in the project as project and associated partners committed to continuing the cooperation and implementation of the HFR ideas after the project ends. In order to give such a continuation a framework, integrate the most relevant project outcomes, and offer other forest-rich regions a roadmap for what it means to embark on the path of a Healthy Forest Region, the HFR Concept has been developed.
News
Events
Pilot actions
Outputs
Integrating forest ecosystem knowledge into education for health and well-being
Creating secondary benefits for local stakeholders
Marketing forest ecosystem services for regional development
Interpretation Plan for Healthy Forest Regions
Regional strategies and action plans for prioritizing ecosystem services
General Forest Health Strategy to maintain and enhance forest health for human well-being
Regional strategies and action plans to maintain and enhance forest health
Replicable cooperation approach encompassing all involved project and associated partners in HealthyForestRegions
Project videos
HealthyForestRegions
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