A study involving ForestPaths researchers, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution looks at how forest disturbances - like storms, fires, and insect outbreaks - shape habitat conditions for Europe's large herbivores. The research team combined GPS tracking data from 3,069 animals (European bison, moose, red deer and roe deer) with satellite-based maps covering nearly four decades of forest disturbance across the continent. This allowed them...

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) is expanding its bioeconomy team with three new positions aimed at strengthening the data and evidence base behind EU bioeconomy policy. The roles will support multidisciplinary research feeding into political discussions on the sustainability of bioeconomy-related policies. Open positions: Scientific Project Officer – Biomass Supply and Demand in EU Lead Markets (deadline for application:...

A long-term study co-funded ForestPaths, involving researchers from CREAF, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the Centre de Ciència i Tecnologia Forestal de Catalunya (CTFC) and the Technical University of Munich, has found that Natura 2000 protection significantly reduces forest harvesting but has no detectable effect on the occurrence of wildfires or drought-driven dieback.  The...

A new study co-funded by ForestPaths reveals that forest reburns, which are areas that catch fire again within ecologically short intervals, are a defining feature of southern Europe's fire regimes, not a marginal phenomenon.  Researchers and project partners Alba Viana-Soto and Cornelius Senf, from the Technical University of Munich, used the newly developed European Forest Disturbance Atlas (EFDA),...

On June 11, ForestPaths partners Amelie Müller and Timo Diepers presented the bw_timex package and the time-explicit Life Cycle Assessment methodology developed within ForestPaths at an online webinar organised by the Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) subgroup of the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE). The webinar introduced a new framework that accounts for both the timing of processes and the changing conditions under...

ForestPaths has been included in the latest edition of the OptFor-EU project newsletter. OptFor-EU is a Horizon Europe project building a Decision Support System to help forest managers optimise decarbonisation and other ecosystem services across European forest types. The newsletter featured three ForestPaths spotlights: the third episode of our ForestChats series, in which partner Dr. Florencia Franzini discusses how understanding decision-making...

ForestPaths partners took part in the EEA/JRC LULUCF workshop on 27-28 May in Copenhagen. The two-day event brought together researchers, modellers and policy experts from across Europe to exchange the latest advances in greenhouse gas reporting and forest carbon accounting.  ForestPaths was featured across several sessions: Gert-Jan Nabuurs (Wageningen University & Research) presented EFISCEN-Space results on forest biomass and soil carbon...

The fourth ForestPaths feature has been included in the May edition of the EFI Mediterranean Network News. The newsletter presents ten case studies from Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East that showcase practical approaches to strengthening resilience in agricultural, forest, and agroforestry systems. Our latest feature, Effects of forest management on animal biodiversity in Europe and beyond, finds that forest management in Europe significantly...

ForestPaths project partners, namely Technical University of Munich and VITO, have released a suite of satellite-based map products covering forest disturbances, structure and tree genus composition across continental Europe. The datasets are publicly available on Zenodo and can be explored through dedicated web-mapping applications. Together, they provide a detailed picture of the state and recent...

Researchers, forestry professionals and 18 PhD students from 10 universities came together for an intensive week at the Euroleague of Life Sciences Universities International Summer School on Natural Disturbances and Restoration Activities in European Forests. The event was held May 10-16 and was co-organised by Wageningen University & Research and the University of Tuscia. The programme tackled pressing questions around forest adaptation to...

This fourth instalment of the ForestPaths Features series, which translates the project's research findings into concise, accessible summaries for policymakers, practitioners and other stakeholders, focuses on the effects of forest management on animal biodiversity in Europe and beyond. Forests across Europe are under increasing pressure from commercial management, yet the consequences for animal biodiversity remain poorly understood at a policy-relevant...

In a new interview, Gloria Marzano (Prospex Institute) offers an overview of another key element of the project's stakeholder engagement work: the Policy Engagement Forum. The Policy Engagement Forum was designed as a complementary tool to the Policy Labs. While the Labs are in-person events with a defined group of participants, the Forum is intended to broaden the project's reach by drawing in a wider community of stakeholders through the project's...