Tackling the challenges in sustainable and multifunctional forestry through enhanced research coordination for policy decisions

Final Report Summary - SUMFOREST (Tackling the challenges in sustainable and multifunctional forestry through enhanced research coordination for policy decisions)

Executive Summary:
Sumforest was an ERA-NET initiative, which objective was to step up the cooperation and coordination of research activities carried out in the Member States and Associated States of the European Union through the networking of research activities and the mutual opening of national and regional research programmes.
Sumforest - that stands for Sustainable forest management, Multifunctional Forestry and European Forest Policy - contributed significantly to the construction of a fully operational European Research Area on Sustainable and Multifunctional Forestry.
Today, the important climatic, environmental, socio-economic and land-use changes pose new challenges for meeting the multi-functional demands on European forest resources, and for their sustainable management. In the European Union, the current forest policy environment is fragmented, complex and sometimes contradictory. In addition, European forest research is still fragmented and coordination of research activities carried out at regional and national levels is urgently needed. Furthermore, European forests consist of a wide diversity of forest ecosystems and tree species that are affected differently by climate and land-use changes.
In this context, the aim of this transnational ERA-NET was to reinforce scientific cooperation on European forests, and also built new cooperation arrangements with EU neighborhood regions, aimed at a reduced fragmentation and maximized impact of research activities on sustainable forest management and multifunctional forestry.
The increasing challenges related to the understanding and implementation of Sustainable and Multifunctional Forest Management cannot be solved on a national level, but a coordinated effort to pull together all available resources on a regional, European and international level must be undertaken.

Sumforest has:
● developed a comprehensive method for mapping forest research capacities and trans-national cooperation relevant to sustainable forest management and the multifunctional use of forest resources in EU and partner countries. The results display the research land-scape and form a basis for the analysis of strengths and weaknesses, as well as needs, suitability and potential for strategic transnational actions.
● given a concise description and characterization of the European Union Forest policies and identified the main information needs of policy makers regarding emerging issues related to the forest-based sector.
● launched a joint call for proposals under the topic “Sustainable forests for the society of the future”. All in all, seven projects have been funded.
● developed cooperation between EU countries with Russia and the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries as well as established long lasting collaboration with countries involved in the ERA-NET Foresterra. A special focus was laid on supportive activities to include young forest researchers from those countries into international research activities.
● established a joint vision and the formulation of a strategic action plan as the basis for implementing joint strategic activities and transnational research projects, to reinforce scientific cooperation on forest through the European area, thereby fighting fragmentation and maximizing the impact of research activities on sustainable forest management, and multifunctional forestry.
● ensured awareness of its existence, role, activities, calls, and achievements across its partners and stakeholders by using communication tools (flyer, newsletters, posters, press releases...) and workshops to stay up to date with Sumforest activities.
Project Context and Objectives:
Context
The important climatic, environmental, socio-economic and land-use changes taking place at global, regional and local levels, pose new challenges for meeting the multifunctional demands on European forest resources, and for their sustainable management. In the European Union the formulation of forest policies is in the competence of the Member States. Although the Treaties of the EU make no provision for a common forest policy, there are a high number of European policies and directives affecting European forests and the forest based sector. Thus, the current forest policy environment is fragmented, complex and sometimes contradictory. Furthermore, European forests consist of a wide diversity of forest ecosystems and tree species, which provide different goods and services that are affected differently by climate and land-use changes. Therefore, a proper understanding of such regional differences is needed for the creation of mutual understanding on sustainable forest management and multifunctional forestry, providing a solid basis for policy decisions.
In this complex context, research-based information and knowledge should be the basis for developing adaptive management tools and models, new innovation frameworks and coherent policies. This ensures the implementation of sustainable forest management and thus the multifunctional role of European forests. However, European forest research is (with a few exceptions only) still fragmented and enhanced cooperation and coordination of research activities carried out at regional and national levels is urgently needed. Reinforcing scientific cooperation on European forests through a transnational ERA-NET, which builds new cooperation arrangements with European neighbourhood regions will reduce fragmentation and maximise the impact of research activities on sustainable forest management and multifunctional forestry.

Objectives
Sumforest establishes a network bringing together 23 key actors from 15 European member states, 3 associated states and 2 international institutions. Observers from The Netherlands, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland, Germany, Croatia, Algeria and Russia increase the influence and impact of the network. Additionally, Sumforest establishes fluent communication with ERA-LEARN 2020 as well as innovative scientific cooperation with related ERA-NETs (e.g. WWN+, Foresterra, Biodiversa and the KBBE PLATFORM), the JPI FACCE as well as the most relevant COST Actions (e.g. FP1103 FRAXBACK and FP1207 ORCHESTRA), Forest Owner Associations (e.g. CEPF and EUSTAFOR) and Industry (e.g. FTP). Moreover, IUFRO participates in the Stakeholder Advisory Group through its existing network. Close cooperation has also been established with the SCAR SWG Forest.
The aim of this powerful network is to play a crucial role in harmonising existing and future research programmes and supporting policy decisions relevant to the topic of sustainable forest management and multifunctional forestry. The ERA-NET Sumforest deepens the mutual understanding of sustainable forest management and multifunctional forestry, providing a scientific basis for policy decisions in the framework of the Europe 2020 Strategy, and for the EU Forest Strategy.
One important pillar of Sumforest is developing a comprehensive method for mapping forest research capacities and transnational cooperation. Consequently, strategic joint activities and transnational research funding is implemented to reinforce scientific cooperation on forests through the European area and also outside of Europe. This helps fighting fragmentation and maximising the impact of research activities on sustainable forest management, and multifunctional forestry.

Project Results:
General main scientific results

Sumforest had 7 Work Packages (WP).
WP 1 and WP 7: An experienced lean management ensured that all activities were performed in due time and with high quality and that all partners, observers and supporters in the Sumforest project have been integrated in order to secure a long lasting partnership. All results were made accessible by most modern media; not only to sectorial experts, but also to the wider public on a national and EU level. Existing relevant distribution channels were used in order to spread the knowledge gained in this ERA-NET.
WP 2 and WP 3: The project started with the development of a comprehensive method for mapping and information exchange to improve mutual knowledge of existing European, national and regional programmes and capacities. It took into consideration modelling and clustering efforts that have been already done or were under development (e.g. in the ERA-NET KBBE Platform and in the JPI FACCE). These methods allowed the integration and clustering of existing mapping activities (e.g. WWN in the 6th and 7th Framework Programme, Trees4future, Star Colibri, Foresterra). Sumforest drew on those results where they were relevant to sustainable forest management and multifunctional forestry, but it also performed some additional new quantitative and/or qualitative mapping activities. Moreover the project mapped those European and national policies that affect the forest sector. Again Sumforest utilised existing data (e.g. ThinkForest, COST E51, FP1207 Orchestra).
WP 4: The next step was the analysis of the collected data and the definition of common strategic activities in order to form scientific networks and enough critical mass of research capacities to effectively avoid overlaps and promote synergies among existing capacities. This process also contributed to the identification of scientific areas (opportunities and gaps) that require transnational funding. Moreover, the policy-related part of the project detected inconsistencies and contradictory policies, as well as delivered input towards new national and European policy and implementation activities (e.g. EU Forest strategy, national implementation of FLEGT and REDD(+)).
WP 5: Based on the results of the analysis and the agreed common strategic activities, joint research activities were defined and implemented. A call for joint research projects was organised with a view to maximise the impact of this network on research activities and to consolidate the newly established partnerships. The activities laid the ground for long-term cooperation that resulted in the setup of the new ERA-NET Cofund ForestValue under H2020.
WP 6: As sustainable forest management and multifunctional forestry are not limited to Europe a targeted action of the project focused on “up scaling” the achievements by exchanging information on programmes, research capacities and forest related policies with neighbouring Mediterranean countries, the Balkan, Russia and Eastern Partnership Countries (EaP) in order to identify common strategic activities. Sumforest established close relationship with Foresterra as well as research funding institutions in Russia and the EaP Country.

Specific main scientific results

Workpackage 2: Forest research in Europe: research capacities and priority research areas

Objective
This exercise aimed at providing an up-to-date mapping of major ongoing research programmes, mobility programmes, existing capacities and priority research areas in EU and partner countries, relevant to sustainable forest management and the multifunctional use of forest resources.

Main activities
1. Drawing up a summary report synthesising seven previous mapping exercises of forest research in Europe.
2. Conducting a survey regarding research capacities and priority areas in 18 partner countries covering the following topics: Basic information about the responding research organization, Research funding, Current research areas, Staff, International collaboration and mobility programmes, Available infrastructure and research facilities, Desired future collaboration, access to infrastructure and priority research areas. In total, 95 research organizations responded to the survey.
3. Organisation of a workshop took place in Warsaw on 6 May 2015 to discuss these results and to outline current transnational research needs and a list of priorities for transnational research cooperation. It gathered about 40 participants from research institutions, stakeholders and Sumforest partners.

Main results
The final conclusions, from both the survey and the workshop, regarding priorities for transnational research needs and requirements for sharing of research capacities are:

Current funding, infrastructures and mobility programmes
• The countries with the largest total funding for research are Finland, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. For most countries, the largest part (about 50%) is constituted by basic funding.
• Almost 90% of the responding research organizations report the availability of labs and analysis equipment, with a majority falling within the area “Factors of the environment–biology”. Slightly more than 75% have long-term field trials.
• About 40 % of the research organizations report they are part of a major ongoing mobility programme. The most commonly reported was ERASMUS followed by Castle under Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action, that deals with Careers in Sustainability Excellence.

Capacity building actions needed for transnational research collaboration
• Long-term experimental plots and sites exist but they are fairly expensive to maintain.
• Harmonization of data and protocols to a common language should be reinforced in order to provide open and shared databases.
• The development of mobility programmes to provide good opportunities of transnational collaborations for researchers, as well as policy makers and practitioners (industry and forest owners).
• The networking of infrastructures and researchers-practitioners, including the development of a multilingual platform for communication and dissemination is essential.

Identification of the research areas and topics for transnational research collaboration
• “Forest damage and protection”. This was followed by “Factors of the environment–biology, and “Forest products utilization” (Results from the survey and according to the Global Forest Decimal Classification system).
• “Forest management”, including ecosystem services and multifunctionality (Results from the survey when the institutions were given a room for free writing of a topic).
• “Assessment of values of forest products and services including trade-offs” and “Forest and forestry under climate change – adaptation and mitigation” (Results from the workshop).

WP 2 displayed the research landscape in terms of capacities and research areas. It formed a basis for the analysis of strengths and weaknesses, as well as needs, suitability and potential for strategic transnational actions.

Workpackage 3: Current and future forest-related policy frameworks in Europe

Objective
This exercise aimed at improving the understanding of the forest-related policy framework, identifying emerging knowledge and information needs by policy-makers in the rapidly evolving environmental, social and economic context and identifying knowledge gaps that need to be addressed by the scientific community.

Main activities
1. Drawing up a report that represented a concise description and characterization of the European Union forest policy related framework based on the analysis of the existing literature and policy documents.
2. Contucting two foresight exercises to come up with a prioritized list of 10 emerging issues particularly relevant for the European forest based sector. First, a Foresight Panel was carried out amongst European, Australian and North American scientists on emerging issues. Second, a Foresight Workshop was arranged in Brussels on December 2nd, 2014 to discuss the emerging issues. Participants consisted of Sumforest project partners, civil servants from ministries, forest-based sector stakeholders, and experts.
3. Writing a report that identified the main information needs of policy makers regarding emerging issues related to the forest-based sector to implement research results.

Main results
Characterization of the current forest-related policy framework
• At European level, Forest policy is defined by different policy areas and contradictory policy objectives that generate fragmentation, lack cohesion and coordination.
• One of the most significant challenges to resolve this situation relates to the lack of political interest or willingness (e.g. to push for a legally binding agreement) both at the EU and Pan-European level.
• The new EU Forest Strategy is clearly not strong enough to change this situation, even though it may contribute to some improved coordination between Member States.
• The key to managing forest in the future lies in finding shared goals. This will only be possible if a more holistic view on forests is taken.

Emerging Issues in European Forest-Based Sector and Research Priorities
• The results from both the Workshop and the Foresight Panel give a good overview of emerging issues as the participating scientists represent various disciplines in the forest sector, their scientific background varies broadly and their geographical distribution include 10 countries worldwide.
• The results can be used by the Sumforest-project to identify relevant call-topics, but also by other parties for a wider scoping and steering of research in the European forest-based sector.
• This type of a systematic Foresight Panel with forest scientists forming the panel and identifying the emerging issues was carried out for the first time in the European forest-based sector.
• The emerging issues identified by scientists point out the urgent need of working closely, efficient and fast together to ensure a sustainable and multifunctional forestry in a fast changing world with many threats. Some issues might not appear to be new at the first glance, however, the fact that they were identified again points out that they need even more attention and awareness.

Results from the Workshop:
1. Management of changes, risks and uncertainties in forestry* + pests and pathogens in international trade
2. Land use, resource competition and scarcity* + ecosystem services and functional biodiversity
3. Future of bioeconomy and forest-based sector*
4. Management of changes, risks and uncertainties in forestry + climate change* uncertainties in forestry + climate change*
5. The impact of forest - and non - forest policies to forest - based sector and governance, and their better coordination*
* cross cutting issues

Results from the Foresight Panel:
1) Climate change and trade - offs between carbon sequestration and material or energy substitution
2) Future of bioeconomy and forest - based sector
3) Management of changes, risks and uncertainties in forestry
4) The impact of forest - and non - forest policies to forest - based sector and governance, and their better coordination
5) The increasing demand for bioenergy and how to provide enough and sustain ably forest biomass for this purpose

Main information needs of policy makers
Policy makers ask for:
• More guidance so they can put the research results into perspective and use them more efficient. This can be done by researchers summarizing their results in a short, easy text, and giving clear implementation guidelines. This also helps to prevent an unintentional duplication of scientific work.
• Pointing out possible challenges (conflict of interest, shortage of money, societal resistance...) regarding the implementation (addressed shortly by scientists).
• A policy supporting study evaluating existing research to overcome the knowledge gap. It should more often be the first step before starting new research projects.

Means to implement research results
• To ensure new knowledge is obtained and brought into society, a balance between basic and applied science is important.
• An intense dialogue with the society and the policy makers is of crucial importance for a successful implementation of the research.
• To overcome the problems, the “bottom-up approach” or the “backcasting approach” are quite successful when it comes to the implementation of difficult, long-lasting changes in society.
• The local and regional scale is the most promising one, given that local actors can participate directly. The smaller the scale, the more detailed and specific questions and results can be. However, policy decisions framing the research landscape must be taken on a European level.
By enhancing research coordination for policy decisions, the challenges in the implementation of a sustainable and multifunctional forestry in Europe can be tackled.

Workpackage 4: Forest research in Europe: a joint vision

Objective
This exercise aimed at developing a joint vision and the formulation of a strategic action plan as the basis for implementing joint strategic activities and transnational research projects.

Main activities
1. A SWOT analysis to determine the strengths and weaknesses of Forest research in Europe and the opportunities and threats presented by the society at large was done. Forest research in Europe was viewed through its aptitude to address main forest challenges (Changes, risks and uncertainties / Multiple and interacting ecosystem services / Bio-based industries and markets / Cross-cutting issue).
2. A workshop was organised in Paris on 17 November 2015 to elaborate a priority list of research topics for the Sumforest transational call and provide a foundation for the identification of joint strategic activities.
3. A strategic action plan for research on EU forestry was set up.

Main results
Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Forest research in Europe
The final conclusions from the SWOT analysis are:
• Researchers show a great responsiveness regarding climate change, risk and uncertainties, have a good experience on biophysical evaluation of ecosystem services. There is a long tradition of forest research in Europe that has a high impact at scientific level, with a strong ability to organize networks (IUFRO, ERA-NETs etc.) also among wood science related activities. Almost 90% of the responding research organizations report the availability of labs and analysis equipment, with a majority falling within the area “Factors of the environment–biology”. Slightly more than 75% have long-term field trials.
• Despite these strengths, more research is needed on climate change, risk and uncertainties, and on ecosystem services evaluation and trade-offs. Moreover, there is a real lack of transdisciplinarity. Forest research is sometimes slow in relation to the velocity of changes and doesn’t always address the needs of forest decision-makers, too little efforts are done for RDI.
• During the last years, public policies have increased their interest in forests, forest ecosystems services and forest-based activities that represent an opportunity for forest research. Moreover, forest research benefits from the capacity of forests to mitigate climate changes (particularly by sequestrating carbon).
• Despite the growing interest of public policies in forests, there is a lack of consistency at European scale, and science/policy interface remains weak. One of the main threats for forest research is that a changing management relies on science less than expected; there are a lot of irreducible uncertainties; there is a limited access to funds.

Priority list of research topics
Based on the outcomes of the SWOT analysis, research topics were defined during the Paris workshop on strategic activities.
In total, 19 research topics were defined and could be grouped among 7 categories.
During the workshop, three categories distinguished themselves with more than 30 votes:
• “Comparison of the sustainability credentials between the fossil-based and bio-based value chains” (37 votes) – Bio-based industries and markets
• “Risk assessment and future management regimes regarding climate change adaptation” (34 votes) – Changes, risks and uncertainties
• “Appraisals and trade-offs related to ecosystem services” (30 votes) – Multiple and interacting ecosystem services
These topics were part of the Sumforest call under the title “Sustainable Forests for the society of the future”.

Implementation of strategic activities
Three main strategic research areas have been identified based on the main challenges the forestry sector has to face at EU and international level:
• Role of the European Forests in the Implementation of the Bioeconomy strategy;
• Risk resilient forest management: assessment of risks and adaptation to climate change;
• Appraisals and trade-off of the European forest ecosystem services. The socio-economic dimension, synergies and trade-off assessment based on a participatory approach.

Based on the large consultation process involving the forestry research community and a variety of stakeholders from public and private sectors, policy makers and funders, some joint activities have been confirmed as highly relevant:
• Joint call for research proposals to support both new knowledge needs in some sectors and consolidate and validate already available findings in new scenarios;
• Networking activities to share knowledge and skills, disseminate results and translate science into practice;
• Capacity building activities to promote researcher, mobility create new multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary competences, optimize the use of available research infrastructures.

Workpackage 5: Forest research in Europe: joint research activity

Objective
This Workpackage has the aimed to develop mechanisms needed to enable joint funding of trans-national research activities. It combined the work achieved within Workpackages 2, 3 and 4 through a transnational call. This call aimed to overcome the existing fragmentation of European forest research and tackle the challenges in sustainable and multifunctional forestry through enhanced research coordination for policy decisions. Reinforcing long-lasting cooperation with Russia was another ambition of the call. This Workpackage included also the elaboration of a guideline on mobility programs at European level in the Forestry sector.

Main activities
1. The implementation of the joint call with the setting up of a Call secretariat to develop the call procedure, handle all administrative issues around the calls and provide overall support for applicants including necessary forms and templates.
2. A Guideline of Mobility programs at European level in the Forestry sector was set up. Researchers and research centers are now able to identify in this deliverable the different grants and mobility programs funded by the European Union, as well as the application procedures.
3. A Memorandum of Understanding for long-term cooperation with Recommendations for a sustained networking was developed.
4. A Monitoring Guidance for a follow up of selected research projects was worked out.

Main results
Implementation of the joint call
Once all the administrative and technical issues have been resolved, the transnational call “Sustainable forests for the society of the future” was launched in March 2017. It was focused on basic and applied research that aimed to support policy decisions regarding multifunctional forestry. Proposals needed to be transnational, and innovative forms of cooperation such as interdisciplinarity were encouraged. All in all, 7 out of 26 eligible proposals were funded. 18 different funding organisations out of 15 different countries provided funding. The total amount of money granted is approximately 8.3 million €. 43 different organisations are funded through Sumforest.

Three different topics were chosen:
• Comparative assessment of the sustainability performance of forest-based, other renewable and non-renewable raw material-based value chains to inform policy decisions.
• Risk resilient forest management - Adapting forest management regimes which incorporate risk assessment related to potential climate change impacts to inform policy decisions.
• Investigation, appraisal and evaluation of trade-offs related to the provision of forest ecosystem services to inform policy decisions.

Projects funded under Sumforest Joint Call:

BenchValue - Benchmarking sustainability performance of value chains using ToSIA, the Tool for Sustainability Impact Assessment

FOREXCLIM - Forests and extreme weather events: Solutions for risk resilient management in a changing climate

ForRisk - Forest density reduction to minimize the vulnerability of Norway spruce and silver fir to extreme drought – a risk assessment

FutureBioEcon - Sustainable future use of European forests for developing the bioeconomy

REFORCE - Resilience mechanisms for risk adapted forest management under climate change

REFORM - Mixed species forest management. Lowering risk, increasing resilience

POLYFORES - Decision Making Support for Forest Ecosystem Services in Europe – Value Assessment, Synergy Effects and Trade-offs

European Mobility programmes in Horizon 2020 – Excellence Science
Considering the importance of mobility within research, the guideline on mobility programs at European level (forestry sector) gathers information about European programs in the field of mobility and other national programs. Researchers and Research Centres are able to identify - with the help of this deliverable - the different grants and mobility programs funded by the European Union, and the procedures to apply for funding. The guideline has identified the main aspects of The European Research Council (ERC), the Marie Skłodowska - Curie Actions (MSCA) and Research Infrastructures programmes.

Monitoring guidelines
A set of monitoring guidelines, was developed and communicated to all funders of the Sumforest call. The scope and content of the reporting requirements focused on the quality and added value of the trans-national cooperation. Procedures to report and monitor funded projects were developed in accordance with best practice of other ERA-NET initiatives. Documentation from the ERA-NET platform ERA-LEARN 2020 (www.eralearn.eu) and experiences drawn from other ERA-NETs with elaborate reporting procedures were used as a basis.

Long term cooperation
Sumforest laid strong emphasis on the prolongation of the collaboration and these efforts were successful transformed into a new H2020 ERA-NET Cofund: ForestValue

Workpackage 6: Forest research in Europe: International Cooperation

Objective
This work aimed at developing networking and communication activities with Russia and Eastern partnership (EaP) countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine ) in order to characterize their forest research capacities and identify common EU-Russia forest research priorities and implementing a joint call for research projects. It also aimed at establishing close cooperation with the ERA-NET Foresterra regarding Mediterranean and Balkan neighboring countries to maximize synergies, lessons learnt and avoid overlaps.

Main activities
1. A report was writen that summarizes information on existing research capacities, infrastructure and programmes and organizations, carrying out and financing forest research in Russia and EaP countries. It was based on the outcomes of a mapping exercise.
2. A synthesis report on common research priorities and common research needs of Russia and the EaP countries was done. It was based on the outcomes of two workshops organized on 19 November 2014 in Kazan, Russian Federation, and on 27 May 2015 in Minsk, Republic of Belarus.
3. A Two-stages Summer School for young researchers was organized on the topics “Practical approaches to transnational research proposal writing in the area of sustainable forest management” (26-29 June 2017, Minsk, Republic of Belarus) and “Networking and communication skills in research in the area of sustainable forest management” (13-16 October, 2017, Barcelona, Spain).
4. A Joint Think Tank Group (JTTG) between partners from the ERA-NETs Foresterra and Sumforest was created and secured good collaboration, exchange of data and sharing of knowledge.

Main results
Research capacities in Russia and EaP countries
• Contact and information database consisting of 101 organizations from Russia and EaP countries is created and can be used for further research and communication work.
• The report on existing research capacities in Russia and EaP countries represents the first attempt to get an up-to-date picture of forest research status during last decades. It delivers an overall picture of the current status of forest research in Russia and EaP countries that can be taken into account in planning further research work.
• The volume of forest research financing in Russia and EaP countries in comparison with European countries is almost 10 times less and it is clear that forest research is not sufficiently financed. Coordinated efforts are needed to create long term programmes with stable financial basis to support research cooperation between EU, Russia and EaP countries.
• The majority of EaP countries do not have official mechanisms for participating in joint calls for research proposals at the EU and international level. Coordinated efforts should be undertaken to overcome these obstacles.

The results combine identified topics of current and traditional work with new emerging issues.
Common priority topics for international cooperation between EU, RU and EaP:
• Assessment of forest resources, forests and climate change, forest biodiversity, forest disturbances and risks, wood based bioeconomy and cross-disciplinarily, new technologies (results from the workshops).

Russia-EaP joint research needs
• To take into account recent Russia-EaP historical background and difficulties countries are currently still facing. Forest related research is characterized by fragmentation, broken links, dissociation, lack of resources, lack of support in research infrastructure maintenance, aging and lack of young researchers.
• To stimulate and enhance the international cooperation and provide targeted support and coordination efforts for Russia and EaP countries.
• To undertake a set of measures in the area of forest research management and networking between EU, Russia and EaP countries. They include: integration, clustering, ensuring inter-disciplinarity; creating centers of excellence and creating opportunities for testing ideas, better utilization of already existing programmes ; developing roadmaps; supporting experimental facilities for forest monitoring.
• To ensure and increase efforts in capacity building in forest research with the focus on young generation (education, integration, exchange programmes).

This exercise allowed advancing potential areas for common strategic activities and relevant topics that can benefit from international cooperation and joint research activities beyond the EU forest research area. The reports outcomes can be used as a background for further work targeted at EU and Russia/EaP countries for developing and strengthening of research and education in the area of sustainable forest management.
Potential Impact:
Potential impact
Because of rapidly changing environmental (e.g. Climate Change) and economical (e.g. decreasing raw material and energy resources) framework conditions, sustainable forest management and multifunctional forestry issues have gained significant importance while also increasing in their complexity. Sumforest was instrumental in realizing a European forest research area that efficiently generates the knowledge base for addressing transnational emerging challenges on sustainable forest management and multifunctional forestry.

• Sumforest improved the coordination of national as well as EU relevant research
The mapping of existing research, the promotion of information exchange activities and the joint development of a vision and a strategic research agenda as well as the implementation of a joint call among Sumforest partners, observers and stakeholders, taking into account related European forest research initiatives/activities helped to increase the impact of the funding allocated for forest research at European level.
• Sumforest build up critical mass and improved the use of limited resources in fields of mutual interests
The building of a critical mass of research capacity and research knowledge lead to the implementation of joint strategic activities that involved the most important forest research organizations in Europe. The joint strategic activities were based on a joint analysis of research needs and priorities and facilitated the allocation of resources to areas of common highest strategic importance; joint research projects, sharing existing capacities or facilitating mobility schemes. The participation in Sumforest of all relevant national funding bodies and international institutions ensured a real and durable build-up of critical research mass based on the best forest research organizations in Europe.
• Sumforest included industry stakeholders in its strategic activities
Private and public forest owners associations (CEPF and EUSTAFOR) as well as the Forest based Sector Technology Platform (FTP) participated in Sumforest activities. This ensured that Sumforest activities took innovation aspects into account. In addition, SMEs were encouraged to be involved throughout different Sumforest activities, including the joint research call. This enhanced the innovation processes and promoted the spread of excellence to the private sector.
• Long term contribution to structuring the European Research Area
Within the EC, forest based research is dealt by 5 different directories within DG Research and Innovation. Similar in many partner countries research on Sustainable Forest Management and multifunctional forestry is handled by several ministries and respectively numerous national funding institutions are responsible for national funding. The Sumforest project improved the coordination of the different funding institutions in the participating countries and within the EC by building a fluent dialogue and by maximising synergies with other running ERA-NETs e.g. KBBE Platform, Foresterra, ERA-CAPS, CIRCLE II WWN+,RUS and RUS+ in order to jointly develop strategic activities on areas of common relevance. Additionally, relevant European initiatives and instruments like Joint Programming Initiatives (e.g. JPI FACCE and JPI Water), European Innovation Partnerships as well as running FP 7 and H2020 projects (Trees4future, STAR Tree, Newforex, etc.) and COST Actions (e.g. FP903, FP1001, FP1103, FP1106 and FP1201) have been invited and integrated to Sumforest relevant activities (WS, the final Sumforest Conference, surveys, etc.).
• Sumforest helped to provide a more coherent forest-related policy framework
Sumforest, (i) built a better understanding of what and how existing EU policies, in areas such as agriculture and rural development, environment, industry, trade, energy, climate change, water and transport, have an impact in sustainable forest management and multifunctional forestry; (ii) generated new scientific knowledge to better understand possible trade-offs and consequences of existing policies affecting European forests as well as (iii) generated the appropriate interdisciplinary research knowledge to support the implementation of the new EU Forest Strategy and Europe’s 2020 targets with special emphasis on their challenges and opportunities for sustainable forest management and multifunctional forestry. Sumforest long-term impact focussed on creating the knowledge base to assist in the development of "well-coordinated and coherent forest-related policies at EU, international and national levels, to promote the sustainable management and use of forests and their multiple goods and services."
• Sumforests helped to internationalise European forest research
As the main goal of sustainable forest management and multifunctional forestry research is to find solutions for problems arising due to changing social, environmental and economical framework conditions that are of a global nature, Sumforest put special emphasis in International cooperation activities. This was done by facilitating the opening up of the European Research Area to the Eastern Partnership Countries and Russia as well as to Mediterranean partner countries (via cooperation with Foresterra) and the Balkan countries., Sumforest started up new and durable scientific cooperation on forest research at different levels (from funding agency level to research organization level) with the most strategic neighbours for the EU in terms of forestry.

Dissemination activities
• A public website www.sumforest.org was established and updated with results and news regularly. All deliverables produced by Sumforest are public available on the website and the website will stay active till the end of 2020.
• In accordance with the targeted audiences and types of dissemination identified in the Communication Strategy several printed materials were produced. Posters, flyers, leaflets and reports are among the tools that each Sumforest partner used to advertise its activities on a national level.
• A six-monthly Sumforest newsletter was produced and was distributed electronically to 1600 registered newsletter readers. The joint call for trans-national projects was published in several news forums on international (e.g. ERA-LEARN, Platform, WWN+, FTP, etc.) and national level.
• 5 Workshops with invited stakeholders were organised. Reports of these WSs are publicly available on the website. The Final conference “Bridging research, policy and practice for sustainable forest management” on 17-18 October 2017 in Barcelona brought together 90 participants from 31 countries.
• Additionally to the Sumforest leaflet, Sumforest produced a brochure to present Sumforest, its objectives, its main activities, its main achievements, and the 7 projects selected for funding. Beside the distribution at the IUFRO congress (18-22 September 2017) and at the Sumforest conference (16-17 October 2017) all partners distributed the brochure at several other conferences (e.g. Annual Joint Programming Conference).

The coordinator of Sumforest was invited to several conferences (e.g. Annual Joint Programming Confernce, IUFRO congress, WWN+ seminar, Foresterra final conference, COST Actions FP1201, TN1401, etc.) to present the results of Sumforest.

Exploitation of results
Not applicable for Sumforest
List of Websites:
www.sumforest.org

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