Final results and strategic lessons for Europe’s forests
By Jose-Vicente Oliver
UPV – Universitat Politècnica de València
As the Horizon Europe project INFORMA (Science-based Integrated Forest Mitigation Managed by Operational Research and Advanced data) reaches its final stage, its main message is clear: the future of European forests under climate change depends not on less management or more management, but on better, adaptive and region-specific management.
Over the last four years, INFORMA has brought together 14 partners across Europe to generate integrated scientific evidence and practical guidance for climate-smart forest management.
Building integrated knowledge for Europe
One of INFORMA’s strongest contributions has been to connect fragmented knowledge on forest management, ecosystem functioning, climate mitigation and resilience into an integrated European framework.
Working across the five main forest biogeographical regions (Boreal, Atlantic, Continental, Alpine and Mediterranean) and through representative Forest Management Units in Finland, Belgium, Austria, Romania and Spain, the project analysed how different forest management pathways perform under increasing climate uncertainty.
Main outputs and scientific lessons
Among its major outputs, the project has developed the INFORMA Forest Management Platform (IFMP), a living European database integrating field observations, remote sensing and management information to compare managed and unmanaged forests across Europe.
The project also produced good practice guidance on silvicultural mitigation pathways and developed adaptive forest management portfolios based on climate scenarios, ecosystem modelling and multi-objective optimisation.
A central lesson emerging from this work is that there is no single optimal forest management strategy for Europe.
Forest management always involves trade-offs between carbon, biodiversity, water, productivity and resilience. These trade-offs differ between regions and require adaptive, context-specific solutions.
Climate mitigation, resilience and carbon certification
One of INFORMA’s strongest conclusions is that climate mitigation cannot be separated from resilience.
Carbon permanence depends on forests remaining functional under disturbance risks such as droughts, wildfires, pests and storms. This has major implications for both forest policy and carbon certification.
In this context, INFORMA has contributed directly to the debate on the future Carbon Removal and Carbon Farming Certification Framework (CRCF). The project shows that credible forest carbon certification must integrate disturbance risk, permanence, regional ecological diversity, adaptive management and robust Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) systems.
At the same time, carbon strategies should also recognise the substitution effects of harvested wood products and the reduction of sudden emissions through disturbance prevention.
From scientific evidence to operational impact
A key strength of INFORMA has been its continuous stakeholder engagement through integration fora, workshops, focus groups and policy dialogues. This process helped refine management priorities, identify implementation barriers and strengthen the practical relevance of project recommendations.
One of the clearest lessons is that science alone is not enough: climate-smart forest management requires practical feasibility, regional adaptation and strong policy support.
What Europe should take forward
INFORMA leaves four major strategic lessons for Europe.
First, Europe needs to move from carbon targets alone towards resilient forest systems. Carbon benefits will only remain credible if forests are able to withstand increasing disturbance risks and maintain their ecological functions over time. Future climate policy must therefore integrate resilience as a core condition for long-term mitigation.
Second, forest policy must move beyond one-size-fits-all approaches and recognise Europe’s biogeographical diversity. Boreal, Atlantic, Continental, Alpine and Mediterranean forests face different ecological conditions, disturbance regimes and management constraints. Future strategies must reflect this diversity through region-specific pathways.
Third, forest management should evolve from single-objective approaches towards multifunctional portfolios. Carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, water regulation, wood production and resilience are interconnected objectives that often generate both synergies and trade-offs. Managing these interactions explicitly is essential for climate-smart forestry.
Finally, scientific knowledge must become increasingly operational. Advanced tools, integrated modelling, climate scenarios and robust MRV systems are essential to support evidence-based decisions. At the same time, stronger knowledge transfer between science, practice and policy will be critical to ensure effective implementation.
This is the core legacy of INFORMA: helping Europe move towards more resilient, adaptive and credible forest strategies under climate change.