Forest management planning by forest owners and managers: INFORMA generates and shares knowledge through guidelines and roadmaps accessible to forest owners/managers, addressing new SFM practices and the economic, technical and social obstacles that may hamper their application. Practices and challenges are identified by surveying stakeholders (WP1, WP3) and complemented with local simulation experiments to propose families of management approaches supporting diverse objectives (WP4) while considering ecosystem functions (WP2). A large-scale climate model (LMDzOR) quantifies the climate impact of four triplets of management strategies selected with stakeholders (WP1, WP4). These activities upscale the combined model application to TRL 5–6.
Climate effects (including GHG sinks): INFORMA uses satellite data, sampled in a novel way, to explore links between forest structure and biogeochemical/biophysical characteristics (WP2) across the 5 EU forest regions (Boreal, Atlantic, Alpine, Continental, Mediterranean). The LMDzOR model reproduces these relationships at larger scales (WP4). Results are then discussed with stakeholders in representative FMUs (WP1). This methodology advances knowledge on how forest practices affect climate regionally and globally via heat redistribution. It raises understanding of forest management changes and climate impacts from TRL 3 to 5.
Voluntary carbon markets as incentives: INFORMA contributes to certification and verification of carbon removals by detecting weaknesses in current standards and methodologies (WP5) and proposing technical (robust MRV) and economic (business models, stakeholder incentives) improvements. It addresses specificities of forest carbon and new challenges (non-permanence risks, biophysical effects, role of wood products, baseline uncertainties). Recommendations target existing schemes and the upcoming EU framework, tailored to each forest bioregion. Inclusion of improved SFM projects in carbon schemes will increase TRL from 2 to 4.
