Silva Mediterranea

Over 90 years of Mediterranean forest management

New website shines the spotlight on forest ecosystem services

A new website focusing on the rich variety of services provided to people by our forests has been launched as part of a project funded by the European Union.

Spurring INnovations for forest eCosystem sERvices in Europe (SINCERE) responds to society’s demands for services from forests such as recreation, biodiversity protection, and carbon storage.

The project looks at innovative ways to value and implement such forest ecosystem services through the development of novel policies and new business models, connecting knowledge and expertise from practice, science and policy, across Europe and beyond.

The SINCERE website steps outside the usual parameters of a conventional project website, focussing on sharing the potential for forest ecosystem services with a broad audience who might not be overly familiar with the topic. An infographic brings the subject dynamically to life and is available with subtitles in various languages.

The site also showcases the project’s eleven Case Studies, including five from Croatia, Italy. and Spain, and will evolve to reflect developments in the projects innovation activities as these emerge. The SINCERE blog features interviews with researchers and practitioners on opportunities and challenges for ecosystem services in their local context and will be updated with reflections from the local stakeholder meetings to be held over the course of the autumn, the first of which has already taken place in Kuusamo, Finland.

SINCERE is a 4-year project funded through the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, coordinated by the European Forest Institute.