New Call for Proposals: Climate-Smart Forestry and Forest Restoration Pilots in Europe

Gesche Schifferdecker on December 19, 2025

FORWARDS via the European Forest Institute (EFI) has launched a new call for proposals, G-07-2025, inviting applications to establish Climate-Smart Forestry (CSF) and forest restoration pilot projects across Europe, with a strong focus on citizen and stakeholder engagement. The call aims to generate practical, region-specific evidence on how CSF and restoration approaches influence forest functioning and contribute to climate change mitigation, adaptation, and biodiversity, while addressing uncertainties and real-world implementation challenges.

A core element of the call is the active involvement of citizens and stakeholders in forest management. Coordinating with local communities and practitioners is crucial for the successful implementation of climate-smart solutions, ensuring that diverse perspectives and place-based knowledge are fairly integrated. Through stakeholder engagement, projects are expected to foster social learning, build trust, reduce marginalisation, and strengthen collective capacity for action, ultimately improving the effectiveness and uptake of sustainable forest management and adaptation measures.

Up to five grants of up to EUR 150,000 each will be awarded, across three thematic lots, for projects with a maximum duration of 12 months. Proposals must be received by EFI no later than 1 February 2026 at 21:00 (UTC+2). EFI encourages forest practitioners, researchers, and practitioner–science partnerships to apply and contribute to advancing climate-smart forestry and restoration practices across Europe.

For full details on eligibility, scope, and application requirements, please check the respective website: G-07-2025: Establishing Climate-Smart Forestry and forest restoration pilots in Europe with citizen and stakeholder engagement | European Forest Institute

New grants for more resilient forests!

superbadmin on November 9, 2024

Post windthrow forest disturbances

Check out the new FORWARDS Call for Grants (G-07-2024), focused on characterizing forest disturbances across Europe! This grant is an opportunity to support innovative projects aimed at advancing forest resilience and sustainable management practices. More info you will find here: Call for Grants G-07-2024 | European Forest Institute

Approximate no. of grants: 8

Supported activities:

  • Provide a Europe-wide, consistent, and statistically robust disturbance assessment for different project years
  • Provide detailed characterisation of cause-effect relationships for disturbances in and around the Climate Smart Forestry and restoration priority areas
Call for grants: characterization of forest disturbances
Call for grants: characterization of forest disturbances

New grants for projects: climate impact monitoring in European forests

superbadmin on August 31, 2024

The European Forest Institute (EFI) is launching two new grant calls, under the FORWARDS project, to enhance climate impact monitoring in European forests. EFI invites proposals to set up pilots for long-term climate impact forest monitoring sites across Europe. 

Grant call 1: Climate Impact Monitoring Pilots

Reference: G-06-2024: EFI invites proposals to set up pilots for long-term climate impact forest monitoring sites across Europe. The goal is to improve existing networks, such as ICP Forests, ICOS, and LTER sites, to assess climate change impacts. Up to €145,000 is available per grant, with five grants to be awarded. Duration: 18 months. 

Grant call 2: Linking Ground-Based Monitoring and Remote Sensing

Reference: G-05-2024: This call focuses on linking forest monitoring sites with remote sensing technologies to enhance climate impact assessments. Two grants of up to €145,000 each are available. Duration: 18 months.

Application Details

Detailed guidelines and application information are available on the EFI website

Featured image: Wald Deutschland Siegerland – Kostenloses Foto auf Pixabay – Pixabay

New FORWARDS grants to advance forest monitoring and disturbance characterization

superbadmin on November 13, 2023

The FORWARDS project, funded under Horizon Europe, announces the launch of two new calls for grants aimed at advancing forest monitoring and disturbance characterization after the first one was launched in July 2023.

The calls for grants present a unique opportunity for researchers and organisations to contribute to the development of the ForestWard Observatory, a pan-European monitoring tool that addresses the impact of climate change on forests. These third-party grants are coordinated by European Forest Institute, partner in the FORWARDS project.

Call for Grants 1: Pilots of Long-term Climate Impact Forest Monitoring Sites

FORWARDS is seeking proposals for pilot monitoring plots/sites that will assess the long-term impact of climate change on forest ecosystems. These sites must be linked to existing forest monitoring networks and provide spatial representativeness. The primary goal is to gather data on forest functioning and disturbance impacts to better understand climate change effects over various time scales.

Data and results from the supported projects will contribute to the ForestWard Observatory. Up to five projects will be awarded a maximum of €145,000 each, with activities set to begin in April 2024 and lasting up to 18 months.

Call for Grants 2: Characterisation of European forest disturbances

This call aims to support the construction of an exhaustive open-access reference dataset on forest disturbance. It will be used for rigorous disturbance estimation, developing algorithms for near real-time forest disturbance mapping, and analysing the effects of disturbances across European forest types.

Up to three projects will be awarded a maximum of €150,000 each, with activities set to begin in April 2024 and lasting up to 12 months.

These calls are highly important in advancing our knowledge of climate change impact on forests and improving monitoring capabilities. They offer a valuable opportunity for collaboration and knowledge-sharing among European researchers and organisations.

For detailed application guidelines and further information, please visit EFI website and FORWARDS project website.

Featured image: Sara Uzquiano (post-doc researcher at European Forest Institute)