The Forest Talks webinar series is co-organised by the ForestNavigator, ForestPaths, and PathFinder projects. These three projects, funded by Horizon Europe, aim to co-design policy pathways for European forests that support climate, biodiversity and bioeconomy goals. The three projects develop complementary policy pathways to achieve this goal. The webinar series shows how the projects provide the scientific foundations of future forest policy pathways and aim to increase stakeholder integration.   

The second episode of the Forest Talks webinar series delved into the implications of recent geopolitical changes on EU forest policy pathways. The discussion focused on achieving climate and biodiversity targets while promoting bioeconomic growth within the framework of the European Green Deal. Fulvio Di Fulvio, co-principal investigator of the ForestNavigator project (IIASA) introduced the seminar series and provided an overview of designing forest sector policy pathways according to the aim of the three projects 

Guest speaker Prof. Sten Nilsson, CEO of Forest Sector Insights AB, provided insights into geopolitical shifts, including the Russia-Ukraine war and EU and US elections, and forest sector trends over the past two decades. He explored the EU’s potential responses to current geopolitical challenges and emphasised the ongoing green transition despite these constraints. Prof. Nilsson also highlighted opportunities for reforming the sector and the need for holistic approaches that integrate climate and biodiversity goals to build resilient forest ecosystems. Additionally, he pointed out the growing need to consistently integrate forest policies and the forest industry. 

Mikko Peltoniemi, Research Professor at Luke, presented stakeholder-driven work from the ForestPaths project, detailing the development of policy pathways for forests and the forest-based sector. Three distinct visions were designed in collaboration with stakeholders and will serve as the foundation for further policy development. Representing the PathFinder project, Daniel Di Marzo, Research Associate at ALU-FR, outlined key socio-economic drivers being considered across the three projects, emphasising their importance in shaping realistic and effective policy pathways for decision-makers.  

Willem-Jan van Zeist, researcher at Wageningen Social & Economic Research, presented an overview of outputs related to socioeconomic indicators across the three projects, as well as early findings on bioeconomy indicators using the MAGNET model, based on preliminary wood demand scenarios developed as part of the ForestNavigator project. These initial results provide insights into the macroeconomic impacts that will inform forest policy pathways.  

During the webinar, attendees ranked the importance of four contributions from the forest sector to EU economic prosperity by 2050 and offered feedback on missing indicators. Their input and consequent discussion will help refine the sister project’s research and policy recommendations to better align with evolving geopolitical and socioeconomic realities.  

Take a look at the full webinar here. 

The next webinar will be hosted by ForestPaths in Spring 2026 and will be announced on the relevant project websites.  

Further information about the sister projects and their collaborative efforts can be found here.