Forests for Future – Summary Report
February 2023 marked the end of the Forests for Future project, whose main objective was to develop optimised ways of securing carbon sinks in Slovenian forests. The project produced some important results based on excellent cooperation between different stakeholders.
Based on the results of forest development modelling, the development of scenarios for measures to improve the status of carbon sinks, the analysis of existing scientific findings, a survey involving 34 leading forestry experts and wider communication with key stakeholders in the forest management process, we have developed Forest Management Guidelines for climate change mitigation and adaptation and a set of Recommendations for legal and systemic Adjustments to ensure the integrated implementation of the required actions in practice.
Further information
Both project outputs have been brought together in a compendium entitled “Mitigating Climate Change and Adapting Forests to its Impacts” (Recommendations for integrating climate change mitigation and adaptation measures into national forestry and climate policies and legislation, Guidelines for mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change on forests).
In order to raise awareness on the importance of and ways to take active measures to achieve the objectives of climate change mitigation and adapting forests to their impacts, we organised 17 workshops for forestry experts and representatives of all major institutions in the field of forest management in Slovenia (353 experts). These workshops provided participants with new knowledge and gave them the opportunity to give their opinions and advice on how to improve measures and adapt the forest management system to meet climate change mitigation and adaptation objectives. These opinions and comments were later taken into account in the process of making recommendations for legislative and system adjustments.
We also organised 22 meetings to present the topic of active management for climate change mitigation and adapting forests to their impacts to owners and managers of large forest estates. We also prepared a document entitled “Measures to optimise Forest Carbon Sinks and their Financing – a Resource for Forest Owners”.