On 9-11 June 2025, the initial kick-off meeting of the international FORbEST project, in which the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences of CZU is involved as one of the partners, took place in Brussels. The main coordinator of this Horizon Europe project is the University of Oulu, Finland.
During the next four years of the project, the multidisciplinary scientific team will focus on how to exploit the potential of forest ecosystems as natural solutions to the current biodiversity and climate crises. The project will involve 5 key biogeographical regions together with one tropical region outside the EU.
The kick-off meeting started with an excursion to the Sonian Forest, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Over the next two days, representatives of the consortium partners discussed common approaches within the different work packages. Within the project, CZU coordinates WP7, which focuses on forest conservation and forest management options with maximum respect for the environment and biodiversity.
Our university was represented in Brussels by scientists Ing. Martin Mikoláš, Ph.D., as the principal investigator, and Prof. Tomáš Hlásny, PhD, both from the Faculty of Philosophy of ČZU.
