Mediterranean forests play a pivotal role for local economies by providing a large array of ecosystem services and goods. Despite its potential, the sector is facing significant challenges at many levels, including: low profitability of slow-growing timber, niche markets for Non-Wood Forest Products (NWFPs), and a wider context of aging rural population, farmland abandonment and scrub encroachment, leading to an increase in the occurrence of megafires, which is further aggravated by climate change. A sustainable, inclusive, smart bio-based economy centred on multipurpose trees and NWFPs can be part of the solution, if triggered by an improvement in knowledge exchange channels between NWFP practitioners and scientists, and among regions. The purpose of INCREdible is to address the existing research and innovation knowledge divide in relation to NWFP-service systems of the Mediterranean basin. In particular, INCREdible aims to link knowledge and foster collaboration among different groups of stakeholders, developing innovative business models and enhancing the expertise of rural regions towards the development of inclusive economic strategies. To achieve these objectives, INCREdible will developan Innovation NETworks (iNets) around crucial lines of Mediterranean NWFPs: cork, resins, aromatics, and edibles. Each iNet will aim to gather best practices (both practical and science-based) related to NWFP production, transformation and trade channels. Particular attention will be drawn to cross-cutting sectorial issues such as: (i) innovative business models and value chains, (ii) innovative access to finance, (iii) innovative marketing and digital tools. Lastly, INCREdible will collect information and knowledge arising from iNets into an interregional online platform, which will function both as deposit and exchange system of information among partners, existing networks and organizations, for raising awareness of existing success cases and cross-fertilization.

The MED region includes more than 25 million hectares of forests and about 50 million hectares of other wooded lands. Climatic and socio-economic changes in this region could have serious consequences for forests, potentially resulting in the loss of ecosystem services and causing a wide range of economic, social, and environmental issues. The low competitiveness of the forest-wood supply chain in European Mediterranean (EUMED) countries is currently amplified by the missing or limited access of forest managers and companies to current and new digital technologies which appear to be out of date in certain key areas or fail to address some of the most pressing difficulties that the industry is expected to be confronting in the next decades. This rationale calls for the urgent implementation of a multi-actor approach to digitalization, starting from recognizing stakeholders’ needs and subsequently defining joint actions. To this end DigiMedFor's overall goal is to transform the technological landscape of the Mediterranean forest-wood supply chain by increasing its competitiveness, thus allowing the different stakeholders to better manage and supply multiple forest ecosystem services, including the traceability of wood origin from forests to end-users. In line with the EU forest strategy and the EU digital strategy, DigiMedFor will employ advanced and innovative digital solutions to improve the monitoring and management of forest resources along the supply chain from their origin up to the wood industry, optimising both the sustainability of wood production and traceability and delivery of ecosystem services. DigiMedFor will address the synergetic use of geo-spatial, AI, and modelling technologies, combining them with ICT.

TRANS-SAHARA will establish a groundbreaking approach for leveraging agroforestry systems to support African communities in their fight against climate change. This innovative approach is based on the well-established Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems (WEFE) Nexus approach, which emphasizes the primacy of ensuring water security when designing, installing and managing agroforestry systems. The translation of this conceptual agroforestry management approach into real-world applications is supported by an array of technical and non-technical innovations. These include cutting-edge measurement methods and tools to accurately assess environmental and socio-economic impacts, scalable nature-based intervention strategies to facilitate sustainable exploitation of natural resources, and novel business models designed to secure long-term livelihoods of local communities engaged in agroforestry practices. The efficacy of the novel approach and supporting innovations will be rigorously tested and validated through a series of large-scale pilot demonstrations set to take place in key locations across Africa, including Tunisia, Ghana, and Ethiopia. Novel community-led engagement methods are used to support the co-design of the demonstrators, and ensure deep acceptance of the innovation within local communities. Expected outcomes will contribute to bridging the agroforestry data gaps in Africa, increased crop yield, doubling of farmers’ annual incomes, and creation of new carbon sinks across previously degraded territories. An ambitious post-project exploitation plan executed in partnership with EU and African policymakers and civil society groups foresees the immediate and widespread uptake of resulting innovations across African Union (AU) member countries and beyond by 2030. Innovation adopters will significantly enhance their communities’ resilience to threats posed by the climate emergency, and stimulate highly sustainable socio-economic development across their region.