Assess4EST: Assessment of trade-offs and potentials to breed and manage forests to meet sustainability goals

Important results from the project

All objectives have been achieved, although some data, such as forest plasticity, is still under analysis. The project has generated new data and compiled existing information, which is now available for follow-up and future projects. The team has developed a model to assess the effects of different management practices at the landscape level, attracting significant interest. In addition to achieving the objectives, we have published a book and organized a workshop on Continuous Cover Forestry.

Expected long term effects

The project is expected to have long-term effects by strengthening close-to-nature forest management through new methods and models, increasing resilience and sustainable yield, and enhancing carbon sequestration. New contacts and networks between researchers and stakeholders, along with publications and workshops, improve knowledge dissemination and support implementation of results in both practice and policy.

Approach and implementation

The project followed the planned WP structure with kick-off, regular meetings and final meeting at IUFRO24, all coordinated by WP6. WP5 facilitated stakeholder collaboration from the start. WP1 and WP2 ran in parallel, feeding results to WP3 and WP4 for modelling forest management impacts. Minor delays occurred due to fieldwork intensity, but data collection is complete, most results published, and further analyses and the policy brief are ongoing. Results were presented at ForestValue meetings.