Forest restoration in practice – lessons learned from 12 demo sites

Gesche Schifferdecker on January 23, 2026

SUBERB demo sites

Restoring forests is as much a social, institutional, and economic endeavor as it is an ecological one. Across regions, landscapes, and governance contexts, restoration initiatives have generated a wealth of experience – what worked, what didn’t, and what must change to achieve lasting impact. This Lessons Learned booklet brings together insights from our 12 large-scale restoration sites, grounded in real-world practice rather than theory alone.

The lessons presented here are not prescriptive recipes. Instead, they highlight recurring patterns, critical success factors, and persistent bottlenecks encountered in forest restoration efforts. Together, they underline a central truth: successful restoration is a long-term process that depends on people, policies, and institutions working in concert with ecological systems.

By distilling these lessons, the booklet aims to support practitioners, decision-makers, and funders in designing restoration efforts that are durable, scalable, and context-sensitive – moving from isolated projects toward sustained landscape transformation.

Key Messages

  1. Forest restoration is a long-term commitment.
    Restoration cannot be achieved through one-off interventions; it requires sustained engagement, adaptive management, and long-term vision.
  2. Disturbance can be a catalyst for change.
    Catastrophic natural events – particularly in single-species monocultures – often expose structural vulnerabilities and can trigger more ambitious and transformative restoration efforts.
  3. Local communities are central to success.
    Communities are not only beneficiaries but essential partners in restoration. Meaningful involvement must begin early and be supported through continuous, trust-building processes.
  4. Finance and institutions matter – but gaps remain.
    Stable public funding and institutional support are fundamental. At present, voluntary private finance mechanisms fall short of delivering the scale and reliability needed for restoration.
  5. Demonstration sites accelerate learning.
    Practical demonstrations provide tested and transferable models, showing how restoration can work across diverse ecological and socio-economic contexts.
  6. Restoration costs are highly variable.
    Costs depend on landscape conditions, the intensity and complexity of measures, spatial fragmentation, and opportunity costs for land users.
  7. Scaling up requires policy alignment.
    Successful upscaling depends on aligning local practices and needs with broader policy frameworks and regulatory environments.
  8. Knowledge infrastructures ensure lasting impact.
    Systems for consolidating and sharing knowledge are essential to move beyond individual projects and to support institutions responsible for national restoration planning.

New SUPERB policy brief: forest restoration as a pillar of Europe’s climate and biodiversity action

Gesche Schifferdecker on December 17, 2025

SUBERB demo areas

Our newly released policy brief brings together scientific knowledge and hands-on experience from our 12 large-scale forest restoration initiatives across Europe, offering timely and practical guidance for policymakers, forest managers, and other key stakeholders.

The brief underlines that restoring forests is not a single action, but a long-term, multi-phase process. Effective restoration typically moves from assessing initial conditions and drivers of degradation, through planning and implementation, to long-term maintenance, monitoring, and evaluation. Success depends on flexibility, adaptive management, and strong engagement with multiple stakeholders, including forest owners, local communities, policymakers, and practitioners.

In the face of climate change, increasing disturbances, and shifting socio-economic demands, our policy brief stresses the need for future-oriented restoration targets. These should focus not only on biodiversity, but also on the ecosystem services forests provide – such as carbon storage, water regulation, and recreation – and the ecological processes that sustain them. Because the benefits of restoration often become visible only after decades, our brief highlights the critical importance of sustained funding for monitoring and adaptive management.

Drawing on insights from our 12 large-scale forest restoration demonstration areas across Europe, our experts identified shared challenges despite the diversity of forest types, ownership structures, and management traditions. Key issues include high ungulate browsing pressure that damages young trees and increases restoration costs, difficulties in engaging private forest owners – who manage around 60% of Europe’s forests – and constraints related to forest reproductive materials, such as shortages of climate-adapted seeds and seedlings.

To address these challenges, the brief puts forward clear and actionable recommendations. These include increasing flexibility in restoration objectives and timelines, adapting hunting and forest reproductive materials legislation, and strengthening monitoring of browsing impacts. Further recommendations suggest improving dialogue among forest managers, hunters, and communities, and supporting nurseries through long-term planning and investment. Our experts also call for contingency planning to cope with natural disturbances and for the strategic use of pioneer and climate-adapted species to build resilient mixed forests.

By translating lessons learned from real-world restoration efforts into policy-relevant recommendations, this policy brief provides a valuable roadmap for scaling up forest restoration across Europe. At a time when resilient forests are more important than ever, it offers concrete guidance to help turn ambitious restoration commitments into lasting outcomes.

Reference: Filipek, S., Jacobs, S., Nabuurs, GJ., Barnkob Lehrmann, M., Bílek, L., Campana, F., Cotten, L., de Dios, J., de Graaf, M., de Guerry, B., Đodan, M., Galić, Z., Gallego, R., García, R., Gómez Fernández, M., Granberg, Å., Hoch, T., Jactel, H., Janzen, L., Lastra González, D., Lindner, M., Locatelli, T., Marušák, R., Mijatović, L., Nicoll, B., Oleagordia, Í., Olsen, H., Orazio, C., Olrik, D. C., Raats, L., Saini, M., Schmidt, C., Svoboda, M., Svensson, J., Tognetti, R., Vacchiano, G., Zorić, M., Zotta, M., Schatzdorfer, E. (2025): Common challenges in implementing forest restoration: Experiences from 12 large-scale demonstration areas across Europe. Policy brief. https://doi.org/10.36333/rs15

Seeds of renewal: collaboration for climate-resilient forests in North Rhine-Westphalia 

Louisa Louisa Bouri-Saouter on November 20, 2025

Seeds of renewal: collaboration for climate-resilient forests in North Rhine-Westphalia 

Article written by Louisa Bouri-Saouter and Gesche Schifferdecker

When tourists come to visit Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, some wonder what has happened. Around the Lömecke Tower, an observation tower about 35 meters high in the Arnsberg Forest Nature Park, the once endless spruce forests are gone. Since 2018, about 133,000 hectares of spruce forest have been damaged by a series of calamities that triggered a snowball effect. Hurricane Friederike destroyed large areas of spruce forest and droughts weakened the trees further by reducing their resin production, a precious fluid which normally helps trees protect themselves against pests. Bark beetles, which mainly attack dying or weakened spruces, did not miss the opportunity. 

Larissa Janzen, coordinator for the German Demonstration Area in the EU project SUPERB, recalls in our recent workshop: “It happened very quickly. We even heard stories of forest owners losing their entire forests in just two weeks!” For forestry professionals who have witnessed entire landscapes transform in record time, the sound of bark beetles destroying the trees is still unforgettable. 

Calamities affected all altitudes, creating fragmented landscapes 

However, despite the initial shock, restoration efforts were quickly initiated. Under the SUPERB project, restoration actions have been carried out across 29 demonstration sites (around 34 hectares) with different types of ownership – private, municipal, church, and state.  The Wald und Holz team, the NRW lead partner in the SUPERB project, reports that 46% of the 133,000 hectares of calamity area have been reforested through natural regeneration of spruce and pine. “But it is important to note that these species might not be the best suited to face future conditions,” observes Larissa Janzen. 

That is why another key restoration action implemented in North Rhine-Westphalia is the adaptation of tree species composition to climate change. To achieve this, the team creates species distribution models that take into account factors such as water availability, soil nutrients, temperature, and vegetation. They can then identify which species (including species which are currently not growing in NRW) could potentially grow and survive under new climate conditions in the area. 

Larissa Janzen is showing the landscape transformation in record time around the Lömecke Tower 

However, miscalculations can occur, and the uncertainty regarding the potential impacts of certain tree species on local ecosystems remains. For this reason, multiple species are often combined to increase their overall chances of survival. 

Kilian Marx, a specialist in forest growth and introduced tree species at Wald und Holz, highlights the complexity of tree species selection: “Everyone talks about species first, but there are huge differences within the same species. For example, the Douglas fir has a coastal and an inland variant, but only the coastal one can be planted here because it can resist diseases such as the Swiss needle cast that would kill the inland type.” 

All findings from the Wald und Holz work on tree species selection are shared with forest owners. Through a GIS-based tool, owners can explore which tree species would best fit on their sites through recommendations based on RCP (Representative Concentration Pathways) future climate projections. They can then make their own decisions about their forest management in alignment with both the federal and state forest laws. 

Kilian Marx is talking to journalists during a field visit about the importance of tree species selection 

An important component of climate-adapted forest restoration – what experts now call prestoration – begins outside the forest itself, in places like the Jungermann regional forest nursery, the “Kinderschule des Waldes,” where every tree’s journey starts as a seed in soil. Here, the work stretches from careful seed selection to optimizing genetics to finally raising the young plants that will repopulate damaged landscapes. Much has changed, says Nursery owner Stefan Jungermann: “Where once 7,000 seedlings were planted per hectare, today only about 2,000 are set into the ground.” 

After the bark-beetle calamities, demand collapsed by more than 80% for water-hungry species, shifting attention toward mixed forests, though private forest owners still favor economically valuable conifers when state funding for broadleaves is lacking, Jungermann explains. The nursery cultivates seedlings on 8,000 square meters of harvest area, part of its total 130-hectare operation, and must adapt constantly to the risks of climate extremes. One wet winter wiped out an entire cohort of oak seedlings – 300,000 lost as acorns fouled in saturated soil. Late frost is even more dangerous: in February, if temperatures drop, the whole team wakes before dawn to spray the young plants, encasing them in a protective shell of ice. With the state of NRW providing 17 million euros for reforestation in 2025 – less the following year – every decision counts, from choosing between equally priced oak and larch (though oak is far costlier to maintain) to experimenting with “trendy” newcomers like sweet chestnut, atlas cedar, and Western Red Cedar. There is no single “tree of the future,” the Jungermann family insists; resilience will come from diversity and matching species to their sites.  

Tourism, too, is undergoing a quiet transformation as the Sauerland landscape changes. Although visitor numbers have not declined, the region’s identity is shifting: the dense, seemingly endless spruce forests that once defined the area’s “green” image have largely disappeared – “revealing, in hindsight, how strongly monocultures had shaped the visual character of the landscape”, says Rouven Soyka, press officer at Sauerland Tourism. With 5,000 km², Sauerland still contains many intact and diverse forest areas, yet the contrast between damaged and healthy stands is unmistakable to hikers and holidaymakers. Climate change is also reshaping winter tourism, as snow reliability continues to drop and ski seasons shrink. To address public concerns and maintain transparency, the city of Arnsberg, foresters and tourism managers together have intensified the outreach, offering guided tours and organizing citizen planting days. While these volunteer plantings contribute little to large-scale restoration, they have proven invaluable for public engagement, helping visitors and residents alike understand the painstaking, decades-long process of rebuilding a resilient forest – and the new forms of beauty and biodiversity that may emerge. 

In this careful choreography between climate, species, and human stewardship, the Wald und Holz team and their diverse local partners stand together at the quiet but crucial beginning of tomorrow’s forests. 

Forest owner of SUPERB demo site wins German Forest Award 2025 

Daria Kononenko on July 15, 2025

Torsten Dörmbach, a forest owner and practitioner in the Wipperfürth demo area of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), has been awarded the German Forest Award 2025 in the category forest owner. 

After bark beetles and drought wiped out his spruce stands in 2018, Dörmbach didn’t just replant. He used the setback to transform 45 hectares of family-owned forest into a resilient mixed woodland. Nearly 60,000 young trees from 39 different species now grow on his land – part of a long-term effort to build climate-adapted, biodiverse forests. 

In line with SUPERB’s mission, his approach combines ecological insight with hands-on action:

– Relying on natural regeneration, where young oaks now thrive without planting 
– Allowing dead trees to stand as hunting perches for birds of prey and shelter for wildlife 
– Managing game populations to give new trees a chance to grow 
– Recognizing the value of species like rowan, once removed as weeds, as part of a more diverse and resilient forest – reflecting a shift in forestry knowledge and practice. 

While it may take decades before the forest becomes economically viable again, Dörmbach is thinking ahead – not only for his family, but for the entire Bergisches Land region. If restoration efforts succeed, he says, the forest will once again provide essential ecosystem services like clean water, air filtration, erosion control and climate change buffering. 

Find the original article here (in German) 

Photo: WDR 

After the Storm: Pathways to forest recovery and restoration in Ireland and beyond – now online!

Daria Kononenko on June 24, 2025

Restoration Story by Daria Kononenko

The Forest Restoration Talks returned on June 11 with a timely and pressing question: what happens after a severe windstorm in the forest? With storm Éowyn leaving a clear mark on Irish forests in spring 2025 – uprooted trees, fragmented canopies, and policy gaps laid bare – experts and practitioners came together to exchange knowledge on what recovery and restoration should look like. 

Hosted in collaboration with the Integrate Network, the TRANSFORMIT project, the SUPERB project, and FoRISK – the Pan-European Forest Risk Facility, the webinar focused on how to respond to extreme disturbance events, strengthen forest resilience, and adapt forestry practices and management for the future. 

What happened during Storm Éowyn? 

Storm Éowyn was the strongest storm ever recorded in Ireland, with wind speeds topping 184 km/h. The impact was severe: around 26,000 hectares of forest were damaged. Much of the damage occurred in mature conifer stands growing on wet mineral and peat soils. Sitka spruce was by far the most affected species. Forest structure and management history played a clear role in vulnerability – about half of the damaged area had been thinned at least once, raising questions about how timing and intensity of thinning influence resilience. As discussed in the webinar, factors like mixed species, varied age classes, and selective thinning can strengthen forest resilience, though no forest is entirely immune to disturbance.

What can we learn from other countries’ experience? 

In North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), one of Germany’s most forested regions, storms, droughts, and bark beetle outbreaks have left a visible mark. In response, the region developed a comprehensive reforestation strategy focused on resilience. Instead of replanting the same vulnerable species, forests are being rebuilt with a mix of four or more tree species, carefully selected to suit local soil and climate conditions. These “forest development types” also account for different forestry goals – from biodiversity and water retention to recreation and timber production. 

Support for forest owners goes beyond written guidelines – which is particularly important because more than half of NRWs forests is privately owned, with many small-scale owners. On-site advice, workshops, and even online courses help owners make informed decisions. A key digital tool, Waldinfo.NRW (in German), offers site-specific guidance, including climate scenario projections and tree suitability maps. This approach puts long-term forest health first – with a focus on climate stability, provision of diverse ecosystem services, and forest vitality. 

Policy and the power of networks 

One recurring theme was the need for policies that don’t slow down action, but help respond quickly and effectively when disturbances hit. Another important factor highlighted was the role of expert networks and coordinated planning. These networks are essential to ensure that knowledge and lessons learned from past disturbances are not lost between events. Initiatives like the Forest Risk Facility and the Integrate Network are seen as essential platforms to ensure cross-border learning and coordinated action. 

Storms like Éowyn expose weaknesses – but also reveal where we can improve. By rethinking planting strategies, improving management transparency, and giving forest owners the tools to both better prevent and respond, the sector can transform storm recovery into long-term resilience. While extreme events may be inevitable, the way we prepare and react is very much in our hands. 

Missed the webinar? Watch the full recording here. 

Learning from the land and learning from each other

superbadmin on June 2, 2025

Group discussion in the forest

Restoration experiences across Europe: from regional Germany to Europe

Restoration Story by Gesche Schifferdecker

Once upon a time, the forests of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany, were dominated by towering spruces. These fast-growing evergreens had been the region’s economic backbone for decades. But with the impacts of climate change, drought, and bark beetle infestations, about 60% of the spruce trees have vanished. Today, forestry experts support nature in writing a new story – one where beech, oak, and hornbeam are stepping into the spotlight.

That was the backdrop for a recent SUPERB workshop and excursion in NRW, where forest owners and managers, researchers, and policy experts from across Europe came together to share insights, challenges, and inspiration around upscaling forest restoration.

Rebuilding the forest: one tree at a time – and with a fence?

So how are forests in NRW bouncing back? About half of the affected areas have been reforested, either through planting or natural regeneration, we learned from our partners who are managing the NRW Demo Area. Private nurseries are the main source of seedlings, and forest owners receive subsidies depending on the type of forest they aim to develop. One of the quiet but persistent challenges of forest restoration is managing wildlife – particularly deer. In many parts of NRW and the rest of Europe, for example in Spain, high deer populations pose a serious threat to young trees, especially broadleaf species like oak and beech. Deer prefer tender shoots and bark for browsing and fraying, often stripping entire stands of newly planted saplings. To combat this, forest owners increasingly rely on fencing – but this is costly, labour-intensive, and not always feasible over large areas. The situation raises a bigger question in Europe: how should game populations be managed in landscapes undergoing ecological restoration? Balancing biodiversity goals with hunting traditions and wildlife protection requires careful dialogue and integrated game management strategies, the workshop participants emphasized. Without it, even the best restoration plans can be undone by hungry herbivores.

Protection of saplings (photo: Gesche Schifferdecker)
Planted oak tree (photo: Gesche Schifferdecker)

The challenge of restoring Natura 2000 areas

Looking at the NRW example, the group discussed that restoring forests within Natura 2000 areas presents a unique set of challenges. These protected zones are governed by strict conservation objectives, often focused on maintaining or restoring specific historic habitat types and species. At the same time, forests are dynamic, and as climate conditions shift, so do ecosystems. What grows well today may not survive tomorrow. This creates tension: how do we preserve a forest in its “official” state when nature itself is changing? Add to that the complexity of different interpretations of Natura 2000 regulations, and it becomes clear why many local implementers struggle. There’s also limited flexibility in adapting conservation plans to reflect new realities like drought, disease, or shifting species ranges – all of which are becoming more common in a warming world, the workshop participants agreed.

Learning from our neighbours

The workshop wasn’t just about NRW. Guests from Sweden, Spain, Serbia/Croatia, and other regions shared their stories, each with their own flavor:

  • Sweden is grappling with low biodiversity due to clear-cutting. So, when a rare bird – the white-backed woodpecker – was spotted, it sparked public interest and increased restoration action. Collaboration with indigenous Sámi communities and local municipalities shows that success often comes from working together.
  • Spain is planting chestnut trees to support both nature and rural communities, with a special focus on avoiding forest fires and supporting wildlife like the brown bear. Their secret for stakeholder engagement? Hosting workshops in the evenings or weekends, making it easier for people to join in.
  • Croatia and Serbia are working across borders to restore floodplain forests, aiming to replace degraded land with healthy oak woodlands. A strong partnership with policymakers and a high proportion of state-owned forests make their large-scale efforts possible.

Common ground and big questions

Throughout the event, a few big themes kept surfacing. Upscaling restoration is usually more complex than most people realise People often need new knowledge, enough plant supplies, and support to manage herbivores like deer. There’s also the human side: tensions around land use, different interpretations of conservation rules, and the challenge of aligning different stakeholders’ values.

However, the workshop demonstrated that there are many initiatives across Europe that show how through collaboration and holistic thinking our forests can thrive. For instance, in the Danube region, a dedicated Forest Restoration Task Force is making waves, bringing together stakeholders from all five countries of the biosphere reserve as a collaborative platform for advancing river, forest, and grassland restoration, nature-based solutions, sustainable agriculture, ecological monitoring, and more. Danish lawmakers have reached an agreement to plant one billion trees and transform 10% of the nation’s farmland into forests and natural habitats over the next two decades. And in Ireland, the Native Woodland Conservation (NWC) Scheme supports the restoration, conservation and enhancement of existing native woodlands.

Wrapping up: roots of a shared vision

As the workshop drew to a close, participants reflected on three key lessons:
Learn from the land. Learn from each other. Communicate and collaborate!

People may hold different views, shaped by local context, culture, and experience. But most – the so-called “silent majority” – are open to forest restoration, especially when they see its long-term value. What matters is bringing everyone to the table, building trust, and showing what’s possible – one tree, one site, and one community at a time.

NRW is setting the stage with a plan to establish 50 demonstration sites across the region. That way, forest owners and citizens won’t have to travel far to see restoration in action – they’ll find it growing just around the corner.

Group picture (photo: Gesche Schifferdecker)

How Europe’s restoration projects are shaping national plans

Daria Kononenko on May 8, 2025

Across Europe, there are 71 restoration sites — from Ireland’s peatlands to Romania’s forests. Since 2021, SUPERB and its sister projects MERLIN, REST-COAST and WaterLANDS have been working on the ground to restore forests, wetlands, rivers, and coasts, all funded under the Green Deal. 

Now the projects’ findings are helping countries draft National Restoration Plans (NRPs) — a key requirement under the EU’s new Nature Restoration Regulation. 

To support this process, over 100 experts — scientists, policymakers, and local stakeholders — met at the European Commission on 10 March 2025. The meeting focused on what has worked in practice, where challenges remain, and how field-based experience can help Member States design effective NRPs. 

The report Supporting the Development of National Restoration Plans brings together what’s been learned so far — practical tools, examples, and ideas that can help shape national restoration plans, including from SUPERB’s side: 

  • A soon-to-launch Forest Knowledge Gateway with guides on tree selection, funding, and more. 
  • Case studies from SUPERB’s 12 demonstration sites. 
  • Policy maps showing where national laws align or clash with restoration goals. 

With draft NRPs due by September 2026, SUPERB’s work aims at helping national partners to implement these tools — from policy alignment frameworks to site-specific restoration strategies tested across its demonstration area network. 

Read on the full report here

Photo: Anat art / Adobe Stock

10 Things We Can All Learn from the Evolution of Forest Restoration Initiatives in Europe 

Shan Gao on December 19, 2024

By Maitane Erdozain Ibarra, CTFC & Rina Tsubaki, EFI.

Forest restoration is far more than a modern buzzword—its history runs deeper than most realize. Yet, despite decades of effort, the lack of proper documentation of successes and failures has prevented us from truly learning from the past.  

Today, the global push for forest restoration is stronger than at any point in history. Initiatives like the European Nature Restoration Law are sparking hope and action. Now, more than ever, we need to look back and reflect on how forest restoration efforts have evolved, what sparked change, and what lessons past and present initiatives can offer. That will empower us to make forest restoration efforts more effective, impactful, and grounded — both now and in the future. 

A Europe-wide Study to Explore Trends, Patterns and Drivers of Forest Restoration 

Led by Maitane Erdozain and Sergio de Miguel from the Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC) and the University of Lleida (UDL), we published a study that examined narratives from 32 forest restoration experts in 18 European countries to uncover the history of forest restoration in Europe. The study asked experts to delve into six key areas—social, economic, political, technical, environmental and legal— to understand different drivers that shaped forest restoration across Europe. 

The analysis revealed fascinating trends and patterns. Early restoration efforts in central and southern Europe often arose in response to crises like natural disasters and timber shortages. While these initiatives were effective for erosion control and timber production, they often relied on monocultures and short rotations, limiting ecological benefits. The geopolitical upheavals of the 20th century pushed timber production to the forefront, with centralized management that usually favored productivity over biodiversity. Since the 1990s, however, we have started to see a shift: restoration now strives to balance environmental, social, and economic goals, driven by a growing appreciation for the multifunctionality of forests. 

Lessons from Successes and Failures in the Past and Present 

So, what are the drivers that shaped the development of forest restoration in Europe that we can learn from both the past and present?  

Here are 10 lessons we learned: 

  1. Natural disasters as catalysts: Major natural disturbances (floods, shifting sands etc.) triggered early restoration efforts in many countries. Over the past decades, environmental crises (climatic, biodiversity, water etc.) have also influenced the type of restoration that is conducted. 
  1. Geopolitical turmoil forces change: Wars greatly contributed to forest degradation through direct destruction and overexploitation, but they also prompted large-scale afforestation campaigns to address timber shortages. These initiatives shaped today’s forests, showing how crises can simultaneously hinder and drive restoration progress. 
  1. Forest ownership and governance: Centralized forest governance often enabled large-scale restoration success, while fragmented ownership often slowed down restoration progress. Innovative governance mechanisms are needed to address the issue of fragmentation, where many small landowners hold land rights.
  1. Funding mechanisms: Lack of funding has been a longstanding obstacle, but there are examples of strong and stable funding mechanisms throughout history.  Although EU funding has been instrumental in shifting the types of restoration implemented, there is an urgent need for innovative funding sources (e.g., private) and mechanisms that are long-term and resilient to political and market fluctuations. 
  1. Market fluctuations: Shifts in demand for products like timber and fuelwood significantly shaped restoration strategies. Future efforts should integrate marketable benefits from different ecosystem services to sustain landowner engagement and secure lasting outcomes. 
  1. The role of sociodemographics and social values: Rural abandonment tends to reduce land-use conflicts but can lead to new challenges like unmanaged forests. Increasing environmental awareness and recreational demands from society have diversified restoration objectives. These findings underscore the need for active rural engagement and public education to balance priorities. 
  1. Policies as guiding forces: Strict yet balanced national policies that integrate ecological protection with socioeconomic benefits, alongside ambitious international policies and the creation of institutions specialized in restoration, have been pivotal in driving progress and inspiring coordinated restoration strategies. 
  1. Converging drivers accelerate change: Restoration succeeds when environmental, social, economic and political factors align. Historical examples show that isolated drivers rarely catalyze change; a multidimensional approach is essential to create transformative impacts. 
  1. Conflicts hinder progress: Competing objectives, such as agriculture versus forest land uses, or timber production versus conservation, remain major obstacles. Addressing conflicts—both among stakeholders and policies—requires a holistic landscape approach that simultaneously addresses many challenges that society faces. 
  1. Short-term fixes, long-term risks: Lastly, the historical accounts demonstrate that restoration efforts with a short-term vision often create future vulnerabilities. Long-term thinking that acknowledges the interconnectedness of our systems is crucial for successful forest restoration that benefits ecosystems and communities.  
Infographic by Shanqing Gao, EFI

Embracing the Past and Building a Better Future

From this study, we learned the importance of blending historical insights with contemporary strategies to guide more sustainable and impactful forest restoration. By learning from past successes and failures, policymakers and practitioners can avoid repeating mistakes and leverage effective solutions. We hope the lessons uncovered in this research will be crucial for implementing the new Nature Restoration Law to ensure its ambitions are translated into large-scale, real-world impact across Europe. 

Reference: Erdozain, M., Alberdi, I., Aszalos, R. et al. The Evolution of Forest Restoration in Europe: A Synthesis for a Step Forward Based on National Expert Knowledge. Curr. For. Rep. 11, 4 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/40725-024-00235-3

Read the full study here.

Restoring after forest dieback: First Public Engagement Workshop in our German demo area

Rahel Könen on April 22, 2024

Article written by Rahel Könen

The pressure to act and restore the forest ecosystem is immense in our German demo area in North-Rhine Westphalia: Having suffered massive pest outbreaks 6 years ago, the region still struggles with widespread forest dieback. As many forest owners have been challenged in the past years, restoration efforts in the area remain at early stages.

After spending the morning with diverse stakeholders from forestry, tree nurseries, nature conservation, hunting and more, discussing restoration goals and different expectations to forests, we continued with a 2.5-hour public engagement workshop walking through one of our SUPERB demonstration sites close to Arnsberg.

Photo credits: Rahel Könen

To set the stage for the public engagement workshop in the forest, Gesche Schifferdecker shared some insights from an analysis of Facebook posts around the NRW forest area implemented by Rina Tsubaki. These ranged from red deer loving nature photographers to hunting associations emphasizing the role of game management for forest natural regeneration and afforestation to representatives of the City of Arnsberg introducing the forest management plans for a climate resilient mixed forest. The participants were very interested in the online debates and surprised about some of the opinionated comments below the posts. This led to a reflection upon the role of social media in public engagement, and how for example forestry practitioners could proactively contribute to a more balanced debate.

Photo credits: Rahel Könen

The discussions continued in our SUPERB demo area, with a guided tour by SUPERB demo manager Catharina Schmidt. As our SUPERB interventions focus on both environmental and social factors of forest restoration, we discussed in the field diverse topics from climate resilience, selection of tree species, impressions of trellis and tubes covering the newly planted trees, walkability, the role of deer pressure for forest restoration, to the importance of deadwood for biodiversity. Amongst other questions, we asked: “How does this site look to you?, “how do you perceive the role of hunting in the forest?”, and “how does the sight of lying and standing deadwood make you feel?” 

With over 15 participants, these questions led us to insightful and open-hearted discussions about the struggles and needs of this forest area, its ecosystem and its people. 

Resist, survive, respond, restore

superbadmin on March 7, 2024

Irish forestry professionals visiting NRW forest

Exploring resilient forest responses across countries 

#RestorationStory from Jo O’Hara

The SUPERB project already touches many places and people through its demos and partners. Yet we must stretch its synergies even further if we are to achieve the scale of our European-wide forest restoration targets. Therefore, we planted new collaborative seeds in November 2023, when senior staff from the Irish state forest service, namely Coillte, were hosted by German SUPERB partners Wald und Holz NRW in North Rhine Westphalia to discuss forest resilience and prestoration approaches. While there is no formal Irish involvement with SUPERB, when introduced to the project, Coillte managers were extremely keen to learn from our work and establish new professional networks. 

Coillte forests are mostly plantation-based (Ireland had less than 1% forest cover at the start of the 20th century) and strongly dominated by non-native spruce (Picea sitchensis). The forests are mainly managed on a commercial clear-fell / replant system, and many are at the end of their first rotation. This gives the organisation great opportunities to re-structure and ‘prestore’ their land to become more resilient and ecologically positive, while maintaining their commercial performance. Recognising this, Coillte has just launched a new strategic plan (2023 – 2050) for managing the country’s forests. This plan includes specific ambitions to:  

  • Enhance and restore biodiversity by increasing the area of [the] estate managed primarily for biodiversity and environmental enhancement from 20% to 30% by 2025  
  • Transform areas of forests so that 50% of [the] estate is managed primarily for biodiversity and environmental enhancement in the long- term  

Discussions on and in the forest

Catharina Schmidt from the SUPERB NRW demo, worked with me to organise a packed and insightful programme surrounding the spruce-forest calamity area and the development of alternative silvicultural approaches. Over the course of two days the group visited public, communal and private forests, all of which had been hit by drought, windstorms, and beetles. We discussed all stages of the ‘resist, survive, respond, restore’ cycle – including a deep-dive evening discussion about the conditions leading to the explosion in bark beetle damage, and the operational challenges of the response (including contractors, sawmill, markets, and nursery stock).  

The SUPERB demo site was both a daunting and profound example of the actual reality and risks forests face: a huge area of ‘lost’ forest where tough decisions need to be made about how and what to regenerate. We could see and find insights into the resilience of alternative approaches nearby in the ‘Rothaargebirge Naturpark’ and on the ‘von Hatzfeldt’ estate. Wald und Holz NRW state forests, blown over 15 years ago in the ‘Rothaargebirge Naturpark’, managed to regenerate in a way that multiple species survived the beetle explosion quite well. Having been converted from single storey monocultures over the last 30 years, the ‘von Hatzfeldt’ private estate (despite losing much spruce) also proved more ecologically and financially resilient in the face of the calamity. 

Sharing experiences to anticipate risks and explore lessons-learned

“It is essential to adopt a global perspective on forests to address the climate and biodiversity crisis effectively”, commented SUPERB demo coordinator from Wald und Holz NRW, Catharina Schmidt. “Forests offer a multitude of ecosystem services, serving as carbon sinks producing the sustainable raw material wood and providing habitats for numerous species. It is therefore important to preserve our forests globally. I am glad to share our experience, so others can learn from us to take proactive steps sooner to mitigate risks. Timely transformation of forests is important under global change”. 

Ireland has not yet been hit by significant forest damage due to climate or other environmental changes. This was hence a powerful opportunity for Coillte foresters to look into a potential future for their own forests and consider risks and mitigations by learning from what they saw. SUPERB brought to life the reality of the risks and set-up conversations between a fantastic range of professionals, all dealing with the challenge of multi-functional forest management in a changing and uncertain future environment.  

10 key learning points for Coillte

Coillte took away 10 key learning points from the visit that they aim to consider in the implementation of their strategic plan. As mentions Director Ciaran Fallon, “The visit was highly informative in terms of understanding lessons learned from the catastrophic Ips beetle outbreak of 2018 and how German foresters are creating more resilient forests in response to climate change impacts. Developing a strategy for resilience and adaptation to climate change, including the increasing risk of a major pest outbreak, for our estate is critical. Building on the learnings from continental Europe, we are working with partners to model, with the most accurate data, future climate scenarios and associated impacts. Identifying risks and testing scenarios will enable us to develop the best resilience and sustainability for our forest estate.” 

Finally, I would like to highlight the importance of engaging in collaborations such as this: Within SUPERB, much of the upscaling attention is focused on the Nature Restoration Gateway, an online portal offering a broad range of tools and best practice for ecosystem restoration. But it might be even more vital that we recognise the importance of networks and connections to bring our learnings to the field. Computer-based information will only get us so far – people will make it happen. 

Jo O’Hara is leading SUPERB’s WP8 on Further Upscaling.