SLU will lead new cooperation project in the Baltic Sea region

The Department of Forest Resource Management at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences has received EU funding of 3.3 million euro for the project "The Baltic Landscape in change - innovative approaches towards sustainable forested landscapes". The project will run until the end of June 2014. On February 7 this Baltic Sea Region Program will start in Kristianstad with a 4- day kick-off meeting. Representatives from all 14 partners from Sweden, Belarus, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Norway as well as from the International Model Forest Network will participate.

The Swedish Forest Agency is one of the Swedish partners and is responsible for two work packages and for the organization of the kick-off meeting. In total 10 sites or landscapes will be included in the project.

"I am really happy that we now will get started. We have a strong and dedicated consortium and we all look forward to the exciting collaborations that lay ahead of us", says Gun Lidestav, Lead Partner Coordinator.

"With the increased demands of more diverse forest and landscape products/services than before, there is a risk of an unsustainable use of natural resources. This is the reason why there is a need for innovative solutions on land-use conflicts and contradicting expectations on land-use at the landscape level. With the "Baltic Landscape-project" we want to show good examples of how this can be achieved. Cooperations with other actors in the Baltic Sea region to manage natural resources and landscapes in a sustainable way are a substantial part of this work. But we also have to get a deeper un¬derstanding of current and future premisses and challenges."

The long-term goal of the project "Baltic Landscape" is to foster good governance in forested landscapes with regard to local, national and global interests. A network of Baltic Landscapes (with 10 sites) will be established based on close partnership and activities that deal with the new challenges towards sustainable forested landscapes.