Dr. Hans Verkerk, coordinator of ForestPaths, presented recent project achievements at this year’s JRC-EEA LULUCF Workshop, held in Ispra, Italy. The annual workshop, jointly organised by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the European Environment Agency (EEA), brings together experts and stakeholders to discuss Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) data, methodologies and policy developments relevant to international and EU climate goals.
Dr. Verkerk highlighted the project’s objectives and results with a particular focus on the improved models and tools of relevance to the LULUCF community.
He presented recent updates across several ForestPaths tools that support the development of forest management and policy scenarios. This included enhancements to EFISCEN-Space, as well as early results from aiphoria and bw_timex. Together, these tools contribute to more robust scenario modelling and help assess the climate and biodiversity impacts of wood use and forest management strategies.
Looking ahead, Dr. Verkerk outlined the next steps for the project:
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Estimating forest-based mitigation potentials across Europe;
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Constructing policy pathways that align forest management with EU climate and biodiversity objectives;
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Organising training sessions to promote the use of enhanced models, tools and datasets among researchers, policymakers and practitioners.
His presentation was part of a broader session involving HoliSoils, PathFinder, ForestNavigator, NextGenCarbon and AVENGERS, who were among the other initiatives which joined the event, and shared insights, recognising the importance of integrated approaches to increase carbon sequestration and reduce GHG emissions.
ForestPaths’ involvement in this event reaffirms its commitment to policy-relevant research and showcases the strength of collaboration between leading EU-funded initiatives tackling climate challenges in land use and forestry.
