Optimising Forest Operations for Sustainable Forest Management and High-Value Applications

Forestry is a potential pathway to strengthening European competitiveness, reducing dependence on non-renewable, unsustainable resources, enhancing the circular bioeconomy, and understanding the bioeconomy’s ecological boundaries. Forests also play a crucial role in climate resilience. Europe’s forests and their value chains face diverse challenges, including increasing global wood demand, biodiversity loss, and increasing threats to forest health and economic revenue due to climate change.

OptiForValue, a Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) research project, seeks to address these challenges. OptiForValue’s ultimate goal is to foster a transition to more sustainable and resilient forest-based value chains, using an interconnected modelling framework with novel scientific approaches and strong participative engagement. The project will research into early warning indicators (EWIs) of biotic and abiotic risks, adaptive forest management strategies, and integrated tools and methods for agile forest operations and optimised value-chains.

About OptiForValue

Partners

Months

Million Euros

Case Studies

“OptiForValue will harness modern modelling techniques and technologies and provide guidelines for the effective management of forest stands affected by drought, fire, insects, and snow damage across Europe. This is expected to result in the development of new high-value engineered wood products from existing resources as well as from damaged wood; adjustments in forest management to meet future alternative demands for high-value forest products; and more resilient regional value chains that enhance supply security and cost competitiveness, with potential applicability to various regions throughout Europe.”

– Mauricio Acuna & Johanna Routa

Case Studies

The OptiForValue project’s overall goal is to enhance the value, sustainability and resilience of forest-based value chains. Methods and solution approaches developed in the project will be tested in four regional case studies to confirm their positive impact towards more flexible and sustainable forest management practices, increased resilience and agility of forest and value chains, higher wood value recovery and delivery, and protection of social, economic, and environmental values, among others.

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Team

The OptiForValue consortium is led by Luke and comprises of a multi-actor, transdisciplinary team of 17 organisations from across 7 European countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Sweden).

Meet the Team