Woodworking Industries in European Regions: LIGNA 23 Workshop Insights

On 18 May 2023, the Bioregions Facility hosted a workshop called Woodworking Industries in European Regions: Current Situation, Development Pathways and Investment Trends at LIGNA 2023 in Hanover, Germany.

Oskar Azkarate, Baskegur, at LIGNA 2023.

The General Director of Baskegur, Oskar Azkarate, emphasised the significance of a regional bioeconomy strategy, such as the Strategic Plan for Timber in the Basque Country (PEMA in Spanish) and Basque Circular Forest-based Bioeconomy Strategy. These initiatives aim to establish a comprehensive framework for advancing forestry in the region. To illustrate, the Basque Country Forest Bioeconomy Profile developed by the Bioregions Facility provides an overview of the regional bioeconomy innovation ecosystem in the Basque Country.

Next, Martin Schwarz from Wald und Holz in North Rhine-Westphalia shared his insights. In a region with a population of approximately 18 million, wood serves as the primary construction material. With the growing need for housing and apartments in urban areas, there has been a rising demand for wooden materials in urban construction, building modernisation, refurbishment and social housing projects. The legislation now permits wooden multi-storey buildings of up to eight stories, essential for promoting sustainable development in the construction sector and reducing carbon footprint.

Developing a bioeconomy strategy and the support provided by municipalities in utilising wood is essential for the forestry sector. However, the question arises: how can we give timber a higher value? Inazio Martinez, a researcher at EFI and coordinator of the Bioregions Facility, asked Manuel García Barbero, an architect and Wood Construction Manager at CESEFOR, regarding Castilla y Léon’s approach to increasing the value of its timber.

Inazio Martinez, Bioregions Facility, and Manuel García Barbero, CESEFOR, at LIGNA 2023

“In Spain, we have forest fires, and the problem is probably the abandonment of forests. It’s been demonstrated that things that are valued are better cared for,” stated Mr Barbero. While many believe forests should be left untouched, Spain’s forests require a different perspective, as they thrive through active management. Society has adopted the notion that forests should no longer be managed. Still, this approach leads to imbalances and problems — fire plays a natural role in forests by clearing brush and eliminating dead trees, for instance.

Eduard Correal Mòdol, representing the Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia, concluded the discussion by presenting how forests have been managed in Catalonia, which bears similarities to those of Castilla y León. With over 60% of the region’s land covered by forests, Catalonia faces an increasing threat from wildfires as climate change advances in Spain. It is imperative to manage forests and fires effectively while educating the public about their natural occurrence.

Participating in LIGNA has been invaluable in acquiring knowledge about sustainable wood processing practices and discovering how they can be incorporated into our work at the Bioregions Facility.

Funding Opportunities: Open Call for Proposals in 2023

If you are looking for funding opportunities, 19 Horizon Europe calls relevant to FTP stakeholders are currently open. You will find CBE JU calls (Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking) and Horizon Europe Missions. The deadline to apply is set on 20 September 2023.

Summer school: Resilience of Forest to Climate Change Remote Sensing and Machine Learning Applied to Forest Disturbances

Remote sensing and machine learning-based approaches to detect, predict and analyse changes in forests under climate change. The training will include theory lectures, on climate resilience and remote sensing, practical exercises and a field trip to disturbed areas. Other subject studies are dynamics of boreal forests and forestry in the boreal region.

Participants will have the opportunity to work in groups, learning how to retrieve remote sensing data, detect and analyse forest change, classify data, as well as making predictions of forest damage (i.e. disturbances).

The summer school will be organised at the University of Eastern Finland in Joensuu Finland, in collaboration with INRAe and the Horizon Europe Eco2adapt project and the support from IUFRO Division 8 on Forest Environment.

Dates: The Summer School will take place from 7 to 18 August 2023.

Topical contents

  • Forestry in boreal forests, Finland
  • Which forests are prone to disturbances in boreal areas?
  • Planetary Computer and remote sensing data
  • Monitoring disturbances and their management (i.e. mitigation measures)
  • Machine learning theory
  • Change detection analyses

Check the participation fee and how to apply here.

5th Forest Innovation Workshop 2023 Report

Started in 2014 as a joint initiative of European regions and forest sector organizations, the 5th edition of the European Forest Innovation Workshop devoted to Inform-Prioritize-Collaborate: Cooperation of Regions on Innovation in Forest Management, Use of Wood and Forest-related Services, has taken place on 18 January 2023 (full-day workshop) at the Representation of the Free State of Bavaria to the European Union in Brussels.

The role of innovation in managing new challenges in the forest-based sector at regional level in the EU.

Documentation of Plenary and Break-out Sessions

Main objectives of the event

  • Understanding the new framework for regional innovation policies addressing the forest-based sector in Europe
  • Presenting relevant innovations from different European regions that are helping address key European policy ambitions
  • Connecting experts and practitioners to speed up knowledge flows
  • Encourage public and private collaboration at EU and regional levels to foster innovation

Download the programme

Participant list

Photos from the event

Themes

The event provided an opportunity to learn about the most recent updates on European initiatives and connect with a selection of innovative cases, presented during the 2 rounds of breakout sessions.

The themes addressed in the workshop are:

  1. Carbon market, bioeconomy, climate smart forestry and rural development
  2. Forest degradation and nature restoration
  3. Ecosystem services and better integration in forest management

Digitalization and social innovation are cross-cutting aspects contributing to the above themes.

Presentations

Plenary

Introduction to Regional Authorities Round-Table Discussion on priorities for innovation

Breakout Table 1: Carbon Market, Bioeconomy, Climate Smart Forestry and Rural Development

Breakout Table 2: Forest Degradation and Nature Restoration

Breakout Table 3: Provision of Ecosystem Services

Past editions

Seeing the wood in the forests

Humanity is becoming too big for our planet. After relying on a fossil-based economy for 200 years, we are threatening to reach a tipping point, crossing the resilience boundaries of our world. Using the words of Greta Thunberg – how dare you continue like this! – it is time for transformational action.

Award for the project “Building with wood” – development of a model and competence region in South Westphalia

On December 7, 2022, the REGIONALE 25 project “Building with wood” – development of a model and competence region in South Westphalia, has been awarded with the second star. The project is an important part of the efforts of South Westphalia to develop sustainable and complementary projects to anchor resource-saving construction in the region.

The project is aimed at forest owners, the wood processing industry, companies in the wood construction and carpentry trades as well as planners, private and public builders. From the headquarters of Zentrum HOLZ in Olsberg, Germany, they are to be brought together in a network to share knowledge about new technologies and innovations in timber construction and to build up expertise. And at the same time, to initiate and make visible good examples in South Westphalia. This applies to the use of wood in industrial and commercial buildings as well as in public and private buildings.

Read more

Source: Wald und Holz NRW

Photo: PK-Media Consulting

Bioregions Open Innovation Challenge 2022 launched!

Submit a solution to our forest bioeconomy challenges and make chance to win a grant for developing your idea!

Bioregions Open innovation Challenges provide a framework to identify and support the development and scaling-up of innovative solutions (technologies, business ideas, etc.) to pressing challenges in forests management and the forest bioeconomy. Its final objective is to facilitate sustainable transitions in European regions putting into value the full range of ecosystem services provided by forests. The Bioregions Open Innovation Challenge 2022 focuses on following challenges:

• Carbon Farming & Climate-Smart Forestry

• Forest Monitoring, Early Warning and Response

• Unleash the potential of Non-Wood Forest Products

Commission proposes certification of carbon removals to help reach net zero emissions

The European Commission adopted a proposal for a first EU-wide voluntary framework to reliably certify high-quality carbon removals. The proposal will boost innovative carbon removal technologies and sustainable carbon farming solutions, and contribute to the EU’s climate, environmental and zero-pollution goals. The proposed regulation will significantly improve the EU’s capacity to quantify, monitor and verify carbon removals. Higher transparency will ensure trust from stakeholders and industry, and prevent greenwashing. Carbon removals can and must bring clear benefits for the climate, and the Commission will prioritise those carbon removal activities which will provide significant benefits for biodiversity. Moving forward, the Commission, supported by experts, will develop tailored certification methods for carbon removal activities delivering on climate and other environmental objectives.

To ensure the transparency and credibility of the certification process, the proposal sets out rules for the independent verification of carbon removals, as well as rules to recognise certification schemes that can be used to demonstrate compliance with the EU framework. To ensure the quality and comparability of carbon removals, the proposed regulation establishes four QU.A.L.ITY criteria:

  1. Quantification: Carbon removal activities need to be measured accurately and deliver unambiguous benefits for the climate;
  2. Additionality: Carbon removal activities need to go beyond existing practices and what is required by law;
  3. Long-term storage: Certificates are linked to the duration of carbon storage so as to ensure permanent storage;
  4. Sustainability: Carbon removal activities must preserve or contribute to sustainability objectives such as climate change adaptation, circular economy, water and marine resources, and biodiversity.

This proposal is essential to the EU’s goal of becoming the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050. To achieve this goal, the EU needs to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to a minimum. At the same time, the EU will have to scale up the removal of carbon from the atmosphere to balance out emissions which cannot be eliminated.

Industrial technologies, such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) or direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS), can capture carbon and store it permanently. In agriculture and forestry, carbon farming practices can sustainably enhance the storage of carbon in soils and forests or reduce the release of carbon from soils, and create a new business model for farmers and foresters. Long-lasting products and materials, such as wood-based construction products, can also keep carbon bound over several decades or longer.

Today’s proposal will promote cutting-edge clean technologies and support the New European Bauhaus by recognising the carbon storage capacity of wood-based and energy-efficient building materials. The proposal will enable innovative forms of private and public financing, including impact finance or result-based public support under State aid or the Common Agricultural Policy. The Commission will continue funding carbon removal action on the ground through the Innovation Fund (which can finance BECCS and DACCS projects, among others), the Common Agricultural Policy, the Regional Development Fund, the LIFE programme and the Horizon Europe programme (including the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’).

Source: European Commission

Read more

Read Factsheet

5th Edition of the Forest Innovation Workshop “The role of innovation in managing new challenges in the forest-based sector at regional level in the EU”

Started in 2014 as a joint initiative of European regions and forest sector organizations, the 5th edition of the European Forest Innovation Workshop devoted to Inform-Prioritize-Collaborate: Cooperation of Regions on Innovation in Forest Management, Use of Wood and Forest-related Services, has taken place on 18 January 2023 (full-day workshop) at the Representation of the Free State of Bavaria to the European Union in Brussels.

The role of innovation in managing new challenges in the forest-based sector at regional level in the EU.

Documentation of Plenary and Break-out Sessions

Main objectives of the event

  • Understanding the new framework for regional innovation policies addressing the forest-based sector in Europe
  • Presenting relevant innovations from different European regions that are helping address key European policy ambitions
  • Connecting experts and practitioners to speed up knowledge flows
  • Encourage public and private collaboration at EU and regional levels to foster innovation

Download the programme

Participant list

Photos from the event

Dissemination letter

Themes

The event provided an opportunity to learn about the most recent updates on European initiatives and connect with a selection of innovative cases, presented during the 2 rounds of breakout sessions.

The themes addressed in the workshop are:

  1. Carbon market, bioeconomy, climate smart forestry and rural development
  2. Forest degradation and nature restoration
  3. Ecosystem services and better integration in forest management

Digitalization and social innovation are cross-cutting aspects contributing to the above themes.

Presentations

Plenary

Introduction to Regional Authorities Round-Table Discussion on priorities for innovation

Breakout Table 1: Carbon Market, Bioeconomy, Climate Smart Forestry and Rural Development

Breakout Table 2: Forest Degradation and Nature Restoration

Breakout Table 3: Provision of Ecosystem Services

Past editions

Experts gathered to debate sustainable forest management models and complementary foresty in Bizkaia

The Department of Sustainability and Natural Environment of Bizkaia organized on November 15 and 16 a conference that discussed the models of sustainable forest management and complementary forestry. The event examined the European context, the new trends in the field, and several practical examples of efficient management of forest resources.

These meetings, which had the collaboration of the UPV/EHU (The University of the Basque Country) and the USSE (Union of Foresters of Southern Europe), opened with a series of talks given by international experts, including Bernhard Wolfslehner, the representative of Forest Europe who opened the day by giving a vision of the European context in the field of sustainable forest management.

This presentation was followed by conferences on sustainable forest management of private forests and public forests, as well as on management closer to nature. Inazio Martinez de Arano from the Bioregions Facility, together with speakers from the European Confederation of Forest Owners (CEPF), Eustafor (European State Forest Association) and ProSilva participated in the round table “The forest as the green engine of the bioeconomy”, in which he mentioned the challenges and opportunities of using forest resources to support the bioeconomy. He highlighted: “Forests have an important role in supporting the circular economy through the potential of biomaterials and their low carbon footprint. We also need to learn how to use biological elements in cities, not only in construction but also taking into account the ecosystem services that they provide, it is crucial to take care of the forests for purposes such as tourism.”

Watch the video here

The conference continued with the presentations of practical examples of sustainable forest management in Sweden, Italy, Central Europe, and Southern Europe by experts from the Federation of Swedish Family Forest Owners, Etifor, Mayr Meinnol Forst and the Arume Foundation. In other round tables, experts debated topics such as: models of sustainable forest management, ecosystem services, and adaptation to climate change and risk management.