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 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 funding call for climate-smart forestry projects coming soon

superbadmin on June 20, 2023

FORWARDS is an EU-funded project that will prototype The ForestWard Observatory, a pan-European monitoring and evaluation tool that will help in demonstrating the impact of climate change on forests, guiding decision-making for practical forest management.

Five projects for building new climate-smart forest and forest restoration trials will be supported in the first round of calls by FORWARDS, with a total grant value of EUR 700,000 with a single grant value of maximum EUR 150,000. By the end of July, the application window for this grant call will be opened by EFI – the European Forest Institute. 

Projects resulting from successful submissions are anticipated to commence around the beginning of 2024. Each project has a maximum duration of 18 months. The project will issue numerous additional calls for funding for projects with various themes throughout the remainder of the year and until it is completed. If you work in Climate-Smart Forestry, watch out for the launch at the end of July. The call will be published on EFI’s grants webpage https://efi.int/grants-training/grants.

With a total budget of €14m and more than 19 partners involved, FORWARDS – with the ForestWard Observatory – will provide timely and detailed information on European forests’ vulnerability to climate change. The project will also deliver science-based knowledge to guide management using the principles of climate-smart forestry, ecosystem restoration and biodiversity preservation, developed in close consultation with relevant stakeholder groups. To set up The ForestWard Observatory, FORWARDS will launch at least five grant calls with a total value of EUR 6 million to fund 50 projects.

The data and the results from these projects will feed into The ForestWard Observatory.The ForestWard Observatory will be a long-lasting practical tool to support decision making:

  1. at European and national scale to provide a strategic perspective of disturbances, future risks, and critical vulnerabilities and threats to European forests;
  2. at regional and local scale to deliver more operational information for local CSF & Restoration management practice.

By operating at both these scales, the project will help improve the accuracy and timeliness of threat detection for European forests while enabling local management teams to respond promptly using a scientific basis. In this respect, The ForestWard Observatory will draw on available networks and data streams to apply pioneering approaches.