Forests are exposed to increasingly frequent and intense threats, not only in certain geographical areas but throughout Europe and globally. Thus, the extreme weather event in July 2023 caused significant damage to the forest complexes of the Spačvan-Bosut region, especially to the forest communities of pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.). Pedunculate oak forests are one of the most valuable forests in the Republic of Croatia, and their degradation results in large financial and forest ecosystem services losses. Therefore, to stop further degradation, it is necessary to increase the resistance of pedunculate oak forests to growing threats. Cross-border cooperation between the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Serbia in the REBIOFOREST project offers an opportunity to jointly strengthen the resilience and risk management of these and other natural and semi-natural ecosystems by using active and passive ecosystem restoration measures.

The planned activities of the REBIOFORESTS project are:

• Collection of data from existing sources and advanced field observations
• Development of the Green Action Plan for improving the state of forest ecosystems in the Spačvan-Bosut Region
• Preparation and establishment of a pilot area
• Jointly demonstrated restoration of the pilot area using a new solution for forest restoration
• Establishment of a cross-border gene bank of pedunculate oak
• Joint development of solutions for forest ecosystem restoration
• Dissemination of results and preparation of solutions for adoption by organizations.

The expected results of the project are:

1. Developed Green action plan
2. Two pilot areas restored after extreme windbreaks and windstorms during 2023
3. Forest restoration model