The ForestWard Observatory to Secure Resilience of European Forests

Project Information

FORWARDS

Grant agreement ID: 101084481

DOI

10.3030/101084481

EC signature date 13 October 2022

Start date 1 November 2022

End date 31 October 2027

Funded under

• Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Total cost

€ 14 617 660,00

EU contribution

€ 14 617 659,75

Coordinated by

SVERIGES LANTBRUKSUNIVERSITET
Sweden

CORDIS provides links to public deliverables and publications of HORIZON projects.

Links to deliverables and publications from FP7 projects, as well as links to some specific result types such as dataset and software, are dynamically retrieved from OpenAIRE .

Deliverables

Documents, reports (4)

Data assimilation routines and processing tools

D3.2 Data assimilation routines and processing tools (M36). Report describing the improved data assimilation routines, extended model and processing tools and their access.

Report on forest manager/owners and society on CSF and restoration

D4.2 Report on forest manager/owners and society on CSF and restoration (T4.4)(M30). A report presenting wider pan-European perspectives on CSF and restoration with a synthesis of review, survey results and interviews.

Plan for Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation

D6.1 PCDE. (T6.2)(M06). Plan for Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation of Results.

Impact Evaluation Plan

D6.2 Impact Evaluation Plan (IEP) (T6.1)(M07). Evaluation of progress toward impact indicators.

Publications

Peer reviewed articles (26)

Per-Pixel Forest Attribute Mapping and Error Estimation: The Google Earth Engine and R dataDriven Tool

Author(s): Saverio Francini, Agnese Marcelli, Gherardo Chirici, Rosa Maria Di Biase, Lorenzo Fattorini, Piermaria Corona
Published in: Sensors, Issue 24, 2024, ISSN 1424-8220
Publisher: MDPI AG
DOI: 10.3390/S24123947

Sensors

Author(s): Saverio Francini; Agnese Marcelli; Gherardo Chirici; Rosa Maria Di Biase; Lorenzo Fattorini; Piermaria Corona
Published in: Sensors, 2024, ISSN 1424-8220
Publisher: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)
DOI: 10.3390/S24123947

Effects of Forest Management on Beetle (Coleoptera) Communities in Beech Forests (Fagus sylvatica) in the Apennines of Central Italy (Tuscany)

Author(s): Francesco Parisi, Adriano Mazziotta, Gherardo Chirici, Giovanni D’amico, Elia Vangi, Saverio Francini, Davide Travaglini
Published in: Forests, Issue 15, 2024, ISSN 1999-4907
Publisher: MDPI AG
DOI: 10.3390/F15071085

Sensitivity of Sentinel-1 Backscatter to Management-Related Disturbances in Temperate Forests

Author(s): Sietse van der Woude, Johannes Reiche, Frank Sterck, Gert-Jan Nabuurs, Marleen Vos, Martin Herold
Published in: Remote Sensing, Issue 16, 2024, ISSN 2072-4292
Publisher: MDPI AG
DOI: 10.3390/RS16091553

Combining national forest inventories reveals distinct role of climate on tree recruitment in European forests

Author(s): Louis A. König, Frits Mohren, Mart-Jan Schelhaas, Julen Astigarraga, Emil Cienciala, Roman Flury, Jonas Fridman, Leen Govaere, Aleksi Lehtonen, Adriane E. Muelbert, Thomas A.M. Pugh, Brigitte Rohner, Paloma Ruiz-Benito, Susanne Suvanto, Andrzej Talarczyk, Miguel A. Zavala, Jose Medina Vega, Igor Staritsky, Geerten Hengeveld, Gert-Jan Nabuurs
Published in: Ecological Modelling, Issue 505, 2025, ISSN 0304-3800
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/J.ECOLMODEL.2025.111112

Remote Sensing

Author(s): Saverio Francini; Alice Cavalli; Giovanni D’Amico; Ronald E. McRoberts; Mauro Maesano; Michele Munafò; Giuseppe Scarascia Mugnozza; Gherardo Chirici
Published in: Remote Sensing, 2023, ISSN 2072-4292
Publisher: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)
DOI: 10.3390/RS15061638

Canopy height Mapper: A google earth engine application for predicting global canopy heights combining GEDI with multi-source data

Author(s): Cesar Alvites, Hannah O'Sullivan, Saverio Francini, Marco Marchetti, Giovanni Santopuoli, Gherardo Chirici, Bruno Lasserre, Michela Marignani, Erika Bazzato
Published in: Environmental Modelling & Software, Issue 183, 2025, ISSN 1364-8152
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/J.ENVSOFT.2024.106268

Near-Real-Time Detection of Insect Outbreaks in Urban Trees Using a PlanetScope Time Series

Author(s): Valentina Falanga, Saverio Francini, Francesco Parisi, Alice Cavalli, Paolo De Fioravante, Benedetta Cucca, Giovanni D’Amico, Gherardo Chirici, Bruno Lasserre, Marco Ottaviano, Michele Munafò, Marco Marchetti
Published in: Forests, Issue 15, 2025, ISSN 1999-4907
Publisher: MDPI AG
DOI: 10.3390/F15122261

Five decades of ecological and meteorological data enhance the mechanistic understanding of global change impacts on the treeline ecotone in the European Alps

Author(s): Lia Lechler, Christian Rixen, Peter Bebi, Mathias Bavay, Mauro Marty, Ignacio Barbeito, Melissa A. Dawes, Frank Hagedorn, Frank Krumm, Patrick Möhl, Marcus Schaub, Esther R. Frei
Published in: Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Issue 355, 2024, ISSN 0168-1923
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/J.AGRFORMET.2024.110126

Decreasing Stem Growth in Common European Tree Species Despite Earlier Growth Onset

Author(s): Arun K. Bose, Sophia Etzold, Katrin Meusburger, Arthur Gessler, Andri Baltensweiler, Sabine Braun, Nina Buchmann, J. Julio Camarero, Matthias Haeni, Ansgar Kahmen, Richard L. Peters, Frank J. Sterck, Simon Tresch, Lorenz Walthert, Roman Zweifel
Published in: Global Change Biology, Issue 31, 2025, ISSN 1354-1013
Publisher: Wiley
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.70318

Is climate-smart forestry affected by thinning intensity and tree species composition? A case study in long-term experimental plots of central Europe

Author(s): Diana Alfieri, Astor Toraño Caicoya, Roberto Tognetti, Giovanni Santopuoli
Published in: Journal of Environmental Management, Issue 394, 2026, ISSN 0301-4797
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/J.JENVMAN.2025.127603

Country-wide assessment of biodiversity, naturalness and old-growth status using national forest inventory data

Author(s): Costanza Borghi; Saverio Francini; Ronald E. McRoberts; Francesco Parisi; Fabio Lombardi; Susanna Nocentini; Alberto Maltoni; Davide Travaglini; Gherardo Chirici
Published in: European Journal of Forest Research, 2023, ISSN 1612-4677
Publisher: Springer
DOI: 10.1007/s10342-023-01620-6

gediDB: A toolbox for processing and providing Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) L2A-B and L4A-C data

Author(s): Simon Besnard, Felix Dombrowski, Amelia Holcomb
Published in: Journal of Open Source Software, Issue 10, 2025, ISSN 2475-9066
Publisher: The Open Journal
DOI: 10.21105/JOSS.08593

Monitoring fine-scale natural and logging-related tropical forest degradation using Sentinel-1

Author(s): Anne-Juul Welsink, Chloé Dupuis, Laura Cue La Rosa, Monne Weghorst, Jens van der Zee, Sietse van der Woude, Marielos Peña-Claros, Martin Herold, Kurt Fesenmyer, Johannes Reiche
Published in: Remote Sensing of Environment, Issue 328, 2025, ISSN 0034-4257
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/J.RSE.2025.114878

Global spatial assessment of potential for new peri-urban forests to combat climate change

Author(s): Francini, Saverio; Chirici, Gherardo; Chiesi, Leonardo; Costa, Paolo; Caldarelli, Guido; Mancuso, Stefano
Published in: Nature Cities, 2024, ISSN 2731-9997
Publisher: Springer
DOI: 10.1038/S44284-024-00049-1

An assessment approach for pixel-based image composites

Author(s): Saverio Francini; Txomin Hermosilla; Nicholas C. Coops; Michael A. Wulder; Joanne C. White; Gherardo Chirici
Published in: ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 2023, ISSN 1872-8235
Publisher: Elsevier
DOI: 10.1016/J.ISPRSJPRS.2023.06.002

Forest species mapping and area proportion estimation combining Sentinel-2 harmonic predictors and national forest inventory data

Author(s): Saverio Francini, Mart-Jan Schelhaas, Elia Vangi, Bas Lerink, Gert-Jan Nabuurs, Ronald E. McRoberts, Gherardo Chirici
Published in: International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, Issue 131, 2025, ISSN 1569-8432
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/J.JAG.2024.103935

Mapping old-growth forests using airborne lidar data and satellite images: how do plot size and rarity affect accuracy?

Author(s): Janne Räty, Mari Myllymäki, Mikko Peltoniemi, Aleksi Lehtonen, Petteri Packalen
Published in: Canadian Journal of Forest Research, Issue 55, 2025, ISSN 0045-5067
Publisher: Canadian Science Publishing
DOI: 10.1139/CJFR-2024-0283

Field-independent carbon mapping and quantification in forest plantation through remote sensing

Author(s): Saverio Francini, Elia Vangi, Giovanni DAmico, Costanza Borghi, Guido Cencini, Cecilia Monari, Catherine Zolli, Gherardo Chirici
Published in: European Journal of Remote Sensing, Issue 57, 2024, ISSN 2279-7254
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
DOI: 10.1080/22797254.2024.2334717

Deciphering tree drought responses across species: linking leaf water potentials with remote sensing greenness and photoprotection dynamics

Author(s): Petra D’Odorico, Dominic Fawcett, Richard Peters, David Steger, Tobias Zhorzel, Günter Hoch, David Basler, Christian Ginzler, Michael Eisenring, Gaétan Glauser, Roman Zweifel, Arthur Gessler, Ansgar Kahmen
Published in: Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Issue 375, 2026, ISSN 0168-1923
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/J.AGRFORMET.2025.110856

Advancements in Forest Monitoring: Applications and Perspectives of Airborne Laser Scanning and Complementarity with Satellite Optical Data

Author(s): Costanza Borghi, Saverio Francini, Giovanni D’Amico, Ruben Valbuena, Gherardo Chirici
Published in: Land, Issue 14, 2025, ISSN 2073-445X
Publisher: MDPI AG
DOI: 10.3390/LAND14030567

Carbon allocation to roots of suppressed Norway spruce increases immediately after selection harvest

Author(s): Aleksi Lehtonen, Juha Heikkinen, Chainey A. Boroski, Olli-Pekka Tikkasalo, Katja T. Rinne-Garmston, Elina Sahlstedt, Mika Korkiakoski, Anna Kärkönen, Anna Lintunen, Harri Mäkinen, Mikko Peltoniemi, Gonzalo de Quesada, Yann Salmon, Giles Young, Raisa Mäkipää, Ram Oren
Published in: Forest Ecology and Management, Issue 585, 2025, ISSN 0378-1127
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/J.FORECO.2025.122645

Global covariation of forest age transitions with the net carbon balance

Author(s): Simon Besnard, Viola H. A. Heinrich, Nuno Carvalhais, Philippe Ciais, Martin Herold, Ingrid Luijkx, Wouter Peters, Daniela Requena Suarez, Maurizio Santoro, Hui Yang
Published in: Nature Ecology & Evolution, Issue 9, 2025, ISSN 2397-334X
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
DOI: 10.1038/S41559-025-02821-5

StrucNet: a global network for automated vegetation structure monitoring

Author(s): Kim Calders, Benjamin Brede, Glenn Newnham, Darius Culvenor, John Armston, Harm Bartholomeus, Anne Griebel, Jodie Hayward, Samuli Junttila, Alvaro Lau, Shaun Levick, Rosalinda Morrone, Niall Origo, Marion Pfeifer, Jan Verbesselt, Martin Herold
Published in: Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, Issue 9, 2023, ISSN 2056-3485
Publisher: Wiley
DOI: 10.1002/RSE2.333

Exploring climate-smart forestry in Mediterranean forests through an innovative composite climate-smart index

Author(s): Diana Alfieri, Roberto Tognetti, Giovanni Santopuoli
Published in: Journal of Environmental Management, Issue 368, 2025, ISSN 0301-4797
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.122002

Remote Sensing

Author(s): van der Woude, Sietse; Reiche, Johannes; Sterck, Frank; Nabuurs, Gert-Jan; Vos, Marleen; Herold, Martin
Published in: Remote Sensing, 2024, ISSN 2072-4292
Publisher: MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/RS16091553

Other (2)

EIP-AGRI Practice Abstract: A European remote sensing system for the early detection and mapping of forest vulnerabilities and risks

Author(s): University of Florence
Published in: 2025
Publisher: EIP Agri
DOI: 10.5281/ZENODO.19744078

EIP-AGRI Practice Abstract: A tool for identifying forest areas in Europe exposed to systematic stress due to climate change

Author(s): Swiss Federal Institute for Forest; Snow and Landscape Research
Publisher: Zenodo
DOI: 10.5281/ZENODO.19744000