Project title:  Healthy Forest Regions: Supporting Healthy Forest Ecosystems for human well-being in Forest Regions

Project acronym: HealthyForestRegions (HFR)

Project ID: CE0100310

Program: Interreg Central Europe

Name of the Lead partner organization: Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development

Project partners: Nature and Geopark Styrian Eisenwurzen (Austria), National Forest Centre (Slovakia), Slovenia Forest Service (Slovenia), Angermünde City Administration (Germany), LAG Frydlantsko (Czech Republic), Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (Czech Republic), Public Institution Paklenica National Park (Croatia), Municipality of Kočevje (Slovenia).

Associated partners: Northern Velebit National Park Public Institution, Velebit Nature Park Public Institution, Österreichisches Bundesministerium für Klimaschutz, Umwelt, Energie, Mobilität, Innovation und Technologie, Nationalpark Gesäuse, Nationalpark Kalkalpen, Schutzgebietsverwaltung Wildnisgebiet Dürrenstein-Lassingtal, Naturpark Ötscher-Tormäuer, Obec Ulič, Ministerstvo pôdohospodárstva a rozvoja vidieka SR, Ministrstvo za okolje in prostor, Slovenski državni gozdovi, d. o. o., Agentura ochrany přírody a krajiny – regionální pracoviště Liberecko, Dobrovolný svazek obcí Mikroregion Frýdlantsko, Liberecký kraj - odbor životního prostředí a zemědělství, Lesopoľnohospodársky majetok Ulič, štátny podnik, Ministerstvo životného prostredia SR, Stadt Eberswalde, Správa Národného parku Poloniny, Agentura ochrany přírody a krajiny, Bildungswerk Angermünde e.V., Freie Schule Angermünde, Grundschule Gustav-Bruhn, Kita Spatzenhaus, Landkreis Uckermark, Naturwacht Brandenburg - Stiftung Naturschutzfonds Brandenburg, Puschkinschule Angermünde, tmu Tourismus Marketing Uckermark GmbH, European Beech Forest Network (EBFN e.V.), Coordination office for the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Beech Forests", Amt Joachimsthal, Geopark Eiszeitland am Oderrand e.V., Sonian forest foundation, UNESCO Biosphärenreservat Schorfheide-Chorin, Kultur- und Heimatverein e.V. Altkünkendorf.

Project summary: The project tackles the CE-wide challenge of declining forest ecosystem functionality and the loss of biodiversity, resulting from unsustainable forest management practices, intensified by negative impacts from accelerating climate change, both affecting forest ecosystem services (ES) provision for human well-being and territorial resilience. Therefore, the project has the objective to create commitment of policy- and decision-makers and enable key stakeholders to safeguard forest ecosystem functionality, enhancing biodiversity conservation and securing the provision of forest-based ES with further positive effects for sustainable regional development. To achieve this, the project will operationalize the potential for capitalizing on forest ES for local and regional benefits and develop/pilot innovative solutions for a transition to ecosystem-based forest management. The project’s outputs include strategies for communicating the value of healthy, functional forests and their ES contributing to human health and well-being, and further strategies and action plans for prioritization of regional ES to safeguard forest ecosystem functionality. A set of jointly/transnationally developed pilot actions leads to the territorial implementation of solutions for the integration of knowledge through educational work and realizing regional added value for local stakeholders from different sectors. Furthermore, concrete concepts and tools for marketing forest ES are operationalized for the creation of alternative income generation from forests. In this context, the project creates commitment of policy- and decision-makers for cooperation and knowledge exchange with regard to safeguarding forest ecosystem functionality. The project operationalizes the concept of Healthy Forest Regions (HFR) in different regional contexts, where institutional and public commitment and awareness for safeguarding forest ecosystems are territorially integrated on the local and regional levels.

Project objective:  The overall objective is to create commitment of policy- and decision-makers and key stakeholders in Healthy Forest Regions (HFR) for enhancing forest ecosystem functionality, safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystem services (ES) for human wellbeing and strengthening sustainable regional development. Therefore, the project will operationalize the potential of capitalizing on forest ES for local and regional benefits and develop solutions for a transition to ecosystem-based forest management.

Project elements

Work package 1 (WP1):  Promotion of forest ecosystem-based sustainable regional development for human well-being in HFR.

• Joint development of an Interpretation Plan for „Healthy Forest Regions “

• Exploring, defining and implementing options for the dissemination and integration of knowledge about the contributions of healthy forest ecosystems to human well-being in educational work.

• Exploring, defining and implementing options for the creation of secondary benefits for local stakeholders thriving on contributions of regional healthy forest ecosystems to human well-being in HFR.

Work package 2 (WP2): Reimbursement systems for forest ecosystem services - exploring and implementing new opportunities.

• Mapping and assessing the current state of forest-based ES
• Development of alternative forest management action plans for the target regions
• Exploration of potential markets for forest-based ES and development and test implementation of PES (ES products) schemes.

Work package 3 (WP3): Developing operational frameworks for safeguarding forest ecosystem functionality in HFR

• Regional analysis and determination of socioecological framework conditions in targeted HFR
• Regional analysis and determination of the institutional framework conditions in project target regions
• Participatory development of a set of regional strategies for safeguarding forest ecosystem functionality in selected project target regions

Work packages PI Paklenica NP is involved in: WP1 and WP3

Total eligible budget: 2.782.712, 00 EUR

Program funding: 2. 226.169,00 EUR (80%)

Eligible budget for partner PI Paklenica NP: 206.400,00 EUR

Project start: April 1st, 2023

Project end: March 31st, 2026

Project duration: 36 months

Project web page: under construction