On 13 March Brussel’s “European Forestry House” hosted the first users’ meeting of the H2020 MySustainableForest project, led by GMV. The project is developing sustainable-forestry services to be put through their paces in Mediterranean, Atlantic and continental woodland of Portugal, France, Spain, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Lithuania.

The services designed to date cover needs such as characterization of the woodland or timber properties, vulnerabilities of the ecosystem or socioeconomic appraisal of the woodland. 

This first meeting was attended by 21 representatives from the 11 partners of the MySustainableForest consortium, from 8 European countries, plus organizations from the sector of woodland owners, managers and timber marketers like UNAC (União da Floresta Mediterrânica). The participation of Portuguese users of MySustainableForest services represents an added value for project development due to the new forestry legislation brought in by Portugal’s government in response to the wave of forest fires in the summer and autumn of 2017.

MySustainableForest sets out to test the benefits of a precise and thoroughgoing woodland management by means of the systematic use of satellite data together with traditional readings recorded in situ. Furnishing woodland owners and forestry managers with new data represents considerable headway for woodland production practices.

MySustainableForest will offer a platform of services and products such as the characterization of timber resources, characterization of wood in terms of hardness and density, estimate of the volume of stored carbon, biotic condition and the wood’s vulnerability to plagues or severe weather events or other natural risks such as floods, fire or erosion.

MySustainableForest is being funded by the European Union under the framework Horizon 2020 program (No 776045). The European consortium kicked off this project back in November 2017.