A Novel EU Project Provides Forest Information for Europe’s Roadmap Towards Climate Neutrality
A better monitoring of Europe’s forest will help countries mitigate and adapt to climate change.
The overall aim is to aid Europe’s transition to a climate-neutral and resilient society and economy. Purposeful policy decisions are based on reliable information on the state and future development of forest resources.
All in all, 23 research organizations across Europe take part in the four-year EU-funded PathFinder endeavor to improve Europe’s forest monitoring capability – helping increase carbon storage and stop biodiversity loss in forests.
Forests are central to Europe’s economies, climate, and biodiversity
Firstly, the PathFinder project aims to develop a common monitoring system of Europe’s forests. This is important because coherent forest monitoring ensures updated and consistent information about greenhouse gas emissions from forests across Europe. Through the PathFinder project we will standardize the way these data are collected across Europe and harmonize the way this information is shared.
In addition, the EU requires policies that foster a forest-based bioeconomy that help mitigate climate change and promote biodiversity. Currently, decision making is hampered because timely and reliable information is missing.
A PathFinder method for climate mitigation and adaptation in Europe
A second aim of the EU-funded PathFinder project is to develop models that can project how European forests can contribute to climate mitigation and adaptation under various scenarios, using different natural and socio-economic drivers.
This enables the third aim where PathFinder scientists, together with stakeholders – including policymakers, landowners, forest managers, and nature & biodiversity conservationists – set forward to mobilize their understanding and evidence in ways that can help link short-term decisions to long-term outcomes, thus providing more effective and resilient future forest management pathways.
Contact persons:
At BFW: DI Ambros Berger, ambros.berger@bfw.gv.at
Project coordinator: Professor Johannes Breidenbach, johannes.breidenbach@nibio.no, Twitter: @Jo_Breidenbach
Facts about PathFinder:
The four-year PathFinder has a budget of Euro 6.3 million and consists of 23 research partners and coordinated by NIBIO’s Research Professor Johannes Breidenbach.
Duration:
September 2022 – August 2026
PathFinder receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe (HORIZON) Research & Innovation Programme (ID No 101056907).
Twitter: @EuPathFinder
Project partners:
- NIBIO – Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research https://nibio.no/en
- Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg https://uni-freiburg.de/en/
- CICERO – Center for International Climate Research https://cicero.oslo.no/en
- Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas https://www.csic.es/en
- Croatian Forest Research Institute https://www.sumins.hr/en/
- Czech Forest Management Institute http://www.uhul.cz/home
- ELO – European Landowners Organization https://www.europeanlandowners.org/
- Austrian Research Center for Forests (BFW) https://www.bfw.gv.at/
- Finnish Meteorological Institute https://en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/
- IEFC – Institut Européen de la Forêt Cultivée https://www.iefc.net/
- INBO – Research Institute for Nature and Forest https://www.vlaanderen.be/inbo/en-gb/homepage/
- JRC – Joint Research Center https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/index_en
- LUKE – Natural Resources Institute Finland https://www.luke.fi/en
- National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information https://eurogeographics.org/member/national-institute-of-geographic-and-forest-information/
- Slovenian Forestry Institute https://www.gozdis.si/en/
- Thünen Institute of Forest Ecosystems https://www.thuenen.de/en/wo/
- Treemetrics https://treemetrics.com/
- University of Bristol https://www.bristol.ac.uk/
- University of Göttingen https://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/1.html
- University of Helsinki https://www.helsinki.fi/en
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam https://vu.nl/en
- VTT – Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd. https://www.vttresearch.com/en
- WSL – Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forests Snow and Landscape Research https://www.wsl.ch/en/index.html
More information about the PathFinder project:
https://nibio.no/en/projects/PathFinder
• Project website: https://pathfinder-heu.eu/
• LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/eupathfinder
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/eupathfinder
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eupathfinder/?viewAsMember=true
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/EU-PathFinder/100092548540674/
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