PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

Protecting biodiversity, promoting adaptation and mitigation to climate change are key challenges for the Central European (CE) region. Nature-based Solutions (NBS) are actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore ecosystems, to address societal challenges while providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits. Forests of CE harbour biodiversity, ecosystem services(ES), create jobs, and is cost-effective NBS for mitigating climate change. However, CE forests are degraded due to climate change, disturbances, and unsustainable management. These drivers affect forests beyond the national borders of CE countries and therefore cannot be addressed with national and regional approaches. To guarantee forest’s function in a changing climate and reverse deterioration, transnational restoration is needed. Although forest degradation is a transnational challenge, no common definition of degradation and restoration in CE countries exist. Lack of transnational restoration guidelines and national policies restricting forest planting materials make restoration more challenging.

The objective of the RE-ENFORCE project is to facilitate the restoration of degraded forest ecosystems in CE through (NBS) by fostering transnational cooperation. This will be achieved by developing transnational strategy and identifying priority areas for forest restoration, testing the transnational strategy in 6 jointly developed pilot actions, and integrating maps of key drivers, and lessons learned from pilot actions to develop transnational solutions for forest restoration and developing a web-based decision support system (DSS). This innovative webbased DSS will provide conservationists, landscape planners, citizens, and policy-makers easy access to site-specific NBS for forest restoration. An innovative scoping study to finance restoration activities through the economic instruments such as carbon market is also planned in the project. REENFORCE ensures participatory decision-making and a long-term vision for forest restoration by disseminating expertise, testing NBS in pilot actions, and facilitating long-term transnational collaboration among partners and beyond.

Croatian Forest Research Institute (CFRI) is one of the partners involved in  the RE-ENFORCE project, representing the Republic of Croatia among the eight central European countries involved in the project. CFRI leads work package 1 (WP1) and is responsible for coordinating and implementing project activities across all work packages within Croatia. Within the planned pilot activities and the availability of solutions developed so far, CFRI plans to present a pilot site where, in cooperation with Croatian Forests Ltd., activities for the restoration of degraded ecosystems are being conducted. The pilot project focuses on restoring 1,200 m² of degraded beech forest near Jastrebarsko, with the goal of determining how prior drought adaptation can increase the resilience and adaptability of beech seedlings, improve survival rates, and ensure sustainable forest restoration.