The partners of INTERREG IVC Robinwood Plus project organized a side-event to Metsä2013 with the purpose of presenting the project and best practices within the field of forest management on 11th of December in Rovaniemi, Finland. Metsä2013 was the joint session of the UNECE Committee on Forests and the Forest Industry and the FAO European Forestry Commission, which took place between 9th and 13th of December. The aim of Robinwood Plus project is to promote the multifunctional role of forests as engine for economic development, environment protection, improvement of life quality in rural areas, in accordance with the EU Forest Action Plan and sustainability policies. In this regard, the project partners considered important to use the opportunities provided by Metsä2013, whose main objective was to contribute to the development of green economy based on forests and forest products. Besides, the Robinwood Plus project is aimed at fostering the exchange of experiences between partner regions in order to stimulate and sustain economic and social regeneration of rural areas through participatory and sustainable forest management.
Within the framework of the abovementioned side-event, the project partners of Robinwood Plus EU funded project, from four European regions (Kainuu, Finland; Liguria, Italy, Harghita, Romania and Limousin, France) presented the overall picture of the project and of its objectives, as well as best practices within the field of multiple use of forestry.
The short presentations in this regard were provided by the following representatives and project partners: on behalf of Kajaani Universtity Consortium/Cemis-Oulu, Finland, Mr. Timo Karjalainen held a presentation on the topic of Bionenergy programme of Kainuu region; Mr. Umberto Bruschini, from Liguria region, presented the Rural and forestry developments: review of Ligurian Best Practices; on behalf of the Regional Council of Limousin, Mr. Marc Horvat provided a presentation with the topic of The Territorial Supply Plan in wood energy (PAT): a best practice from Limousin; and last but not least, on behalf of Harghita County Council, Mr. Gábor Molnár’s presentation was regarding the: The commonaged, a typical forest association in Seklerland.
The final outcomes of the project were also promoted in the course of the side-event. Namely, within the framework of the project, the main results achieved are the following: Guidelines for participatory forest management; Recommendations for EU-commission on forestry economy development in terms of future programs and investments (3 main policy fields: forestry, rural development, SMEs).
From the part of the attendants, questions that were brought into discussions were, for example, referring to different problems of managing and exploiting forests in different regions and also with regard to using forest bioenergy.
The project officially started in January 2010 and has a total duration of 48 months, up to December 2013. The total amount provided is € 3,063,463.56 Euros partly financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and partly co-financed by each participating region. The subprojects of Robinwood Plus are already finalized; five local councils of Harghita County have received support through these international projects, namely: Ciumani, Remetea, Siculeni, Dealu and Vlahița settlements.
For further information, please visit the project’s official website.
Miercurea Ciuc, 12th of December 2013.
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