As the event’s speakers pointed out, the main challenges in governing Europe’s forests for multiple ecosystem services include the alignment of services demanded by society with services providing an income for forest owners as well as climate change and a polarization of policy frameworks. The projects’ research showed that the diversity of ownership, innovation potential and the concept of bioeconomy offer opportunities in the field. However, harmonized data and monitoring for forest ecosystem services allowing flexibility for the diverse forest settings is needed.
Additionally, possible payment schemes for environmental services were proposed. Among others, scientists presented the concept of a “reverse auction” to create a market for forest ecosystem services and assessed potential upscaling of innovative business models set at a local level.
A summary of the event can be found on SINCERE website
Policy brief - Four pathways to govern Europe’s multiple forest ecosystem services
