ALTERFOR uses advanced decision support systems (DSSs) to analyse the implications of alternative forest management models (FMM) in the sense of silvicultural concepts and strategies. The computations are based on the forest’s status quo in each of the ten case study areas (CSAs) in the project extending from a couple of thousand hectares to more than half a million hectares. Projections for a period of hundred years are made where the growth of forests and the provision of ecosystem services are projected following the prescriptions of alternative FMM under different climate and market scenarios. The complexity and uncertainty make it necessary to review the most critical assumptions that support the projections. This was discussed at the LandMan conference arranged by the Czech University of Life Sciences 17-19 September 2018.

ALTERFOR 3rd cross-project meeting took place on  12-14 June 2018 in Porto (Portugal). Several forest-related actors such as industrial and small forest owners, environmental NGOs and forest authorities, joined to meet the ALTERFOR consortium on the Travellab sessions in the case study area near to the city Porto.

An interdisciplinary workshop will be organised in March 2018 in Asa, Sweden. The implementation of alternative forest management models (FMMs) in different growth simulators and decision support systems will be presented and discussed. The event will also include field demonstration of the FMMs.

The first Portuguese stakeholder workshop took place November 22-23, 2017, at the Portuguese Catholic University in Porto, about 50 km from the case study area (CSA). 

ALTERFOR 2nd cross-project meeting took place on 17-19 October 2017 in Galway (Ireland). Scientific and non-academic project partners and several stakeholders attended the meeting sessions and discussed current issues related to forest management models.

On September 29, 2017, the first Italian stakeholder workshop took place. The Italian team organized it in one of the municipalities hosting the Italian ALTERFOR case study in Bibione, close to Venice.

The first project meeting was organised in Zvolen (Slovakia) on 8-10 November 2016.  The project meeting sessions were accompanied by “Travellab”, an innovative format for cross-regional learning and knowledge transfer. 

The Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany, as the leader of work package four, co-ordinates the research efforts to enhance implementation of alternative forest management models in the involved case study areas. Scientists at the university in Göttingen organised the workshop “Forest Policy Issues & Actor Networks in the Case Studies” on 26-30 September 2016.