Forest ecosystems are exposed to multiple pressures caused by increasingly intense and frequent threats. To minimize pressures on forest ecosystems, sustainable changes are needed. Thus, the SUPERB project, which is the largest European cross-border Horizon 2020 project, during the duration of the project has the main goal of creating an environment for transformative changes towards the restoration of forests and forest landscapes. It is funded by the EU Green Deal, which aims to restore thousands of hectares of forest ecosystems throughout Europe. In 12 demonstration areas across Europe, the SUPERB project will show much-needed answers to the key questions and challenges of forest restoration and adaptation to climate change through practice. Demonstration areas cover several hundred hectares of forest area with the potential to increase the scope to more than one million hectares in the next 10-15 years. The project will build on interdisciplinary and extensive practical knowledge and lessons learned from successful and unsuccessful forest restoration and adaptation activities which will be synthesized for the needs of future restoration activities. This document outlines the actions needed to restore various forest ecosystems based on practical and scientific knowledge. In addition, forest restoration activities will be carried out in partnership with local communities, landowners and other partners to create the best possible communication network. A Gateway will be created to guide stakeholders in finding answers to their forest restoration questions, advise them on how to deal with obstacles and challenges and provide them with access to easy-to-apply and understandable tools and materials for forest restoration (such as best practices for forest restoration or development of scalability plans, tree species selection application, innovative financing guide, etc.). It will also include a “restoration marketplace”, where market agents, such as potential financiers and landowners, can negotiate bids for forest restoration projects. The project will generate decisions on the restoration of biodiversity, the increase of ecosystem services and carbon sequestration with the aim of the highest possible synergy between the forest’s services. The project will strengthen its impact through extensive and systematically expanded stakeholder communities and communication networks to ensure the relevance of project results and their positive acceptance.

The Croatian Forest Research Institute (CFRI), in cooperation with the Institute for Lowland Forestry and the Environment (ILFE), will convert devitalized poplar plantations into mixed forests (Quercus sp., Ulmus sp., Prunus sp., Sorbus sp.) and thus increase the diversity of tree species to achieve greater potential for biodiversity and forest’s service. This will improve wood production, promote carbon sequestration, improve biodiversity and increase stand resilience.