Apply to attend EIP-AGRI Workshop on ‘New value chains from multifunctional forests’

Foresters, farmers, advisers, researchers, entrepreneurs, we are looking for participants to attend the EIP-AGRI workshop on new value chains from multifunctional forests organised by the EIP-AGRI Network. It will take place in the second week of November 2016 in Vienna, Austria.

Apply to call for interest (call open until 13 May 2016)

EU forests serve a wide range of economic, social and environmental purposes and provide around three million jobs. Wood remains the main source of financial revenue and forest biomass represents the most important source of renewable energy in the EU. However, forests also provide a large range of other products, such as cork, resins, mushrooms, nuts, game or berries as well as ecosystem services which are increasingly being valued on the market.

This EIP-AGRI workshop intends to showcase innovative value chains which add value to a certain number of forest products and services with a high potential but which are currently under-used, such as wild products, resin derivates, textile fibres, recreational services, etc. Promoting such new value chains can be a powerful economic incentive for integrated forest management schemes, increasing forest multifunctionality and contributing to sustainable forest management.

The workshop will primarily focus on non-wood products and services. However, examples of innovative wood value chains will be also considered if they can inspire innovative uses of wood by forest owners and managers throughout Europe.

The concrete objectives of the workshop are to:

• Identify and discuss existing and potential innovative value chains contributing to increase the added value of EU forest products and services
• Identify enabling conditions for innovative forest value chains in the EU, ensuring that the multifunctional potential of forests is managed in a sustainable and balanced way  
• Promote the networking of EIP-AGRI Operational Groups dealing with forest products and services under the Rural Development Programmes 2014-2020