LIFE sharing good practices for sustainable forest management

Deep in the heart of the Casentinesi Forests National Park - at 36,000 hectares Italy’s largest national park and a Natura 2000 protected site - a quiet revolution in sustainable forest management is taking place. 

GoProFor LIFE, a five-year, EUR 2.5 million LIFE project funded mostly by the EU, aims to capitalise on decades of experience and best practices in forestry from European projects by collecting and sharing them in a single database. The database describes in detail nearly 300 flagship activities, effective tools and techniques for the conservation of forest biodiversity and forest management. 

‘To manage forests sustainably means enhancing the goods and services that come from the woods, while taking care of maintaining such a precious resource also for future generations,’ says Luigi Torreggiani, a member of GoProFor LIFE’s communications team. ‘But what is a "good practice”? It is a concrete action, scientifically validated and above all replicable, which allows to preserve specific habitats and species, or to improve biodiversity levels in degraded areas.’ 

The project, which ran until March 2023, identified five key areas for sustainable forest management: biodiversity; habitats; invasive species; climate change; and planning, management and governance. Anyone can access and search the database free of charge and download information sheets, find links to other LIFE projects and the contact details of experts in different fields from various European countries. 

So far, more than 50,000 people have accessed the database, which has been included in the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration hub and which will remain active until 2033.  

Despite disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, GoProFor LIFE also ran five training courses attended by over 620 people and carried out 21 practical training assessments in seven Italian regions. More than 500 experts completed level 1 training, and 40 went on to level 2 - and the training modules are still available online. 

‘Many LIFE projects, over the past few years, have represented the opportunity to test good nature conservation practices in forest areas,’ adds Luigi. ‘Unfortunately, these good practices are often not known by forest managers, both at Italian and European level. That’s why GoProFor LIFE was created - to demonstrate how nature conservation and improving forest goods and services are not conflicting concepts. On the contrary, they both contribute to sustainable forest management.’ 
 

GoProFor LIFE contributes to several EU policies and areas of legislation, including the EU Forest Strategy;  the EU biodiversity strategy; the EU Nature Restoration Law; the European Green Deal; and the EU Climate Change Adaption Strategy.