The European Union aims to reduce net carbon emissions by 55% in 2030, and become climate neutral by 2050. These goals can only be met if it boosts carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems, preferably while fostering socio-environmental co-benefits such as conserving biodiversity, adapting to climate change, and safeguarding socio-economic and cultural values. Both the IPCC and the IPBES have emphasised the great potential of ecosystem restoration and related nature-based solutions (NbS) for addressing the challenge. wildE introduces ‘climate-smart rewilding’ as an innovative restoration approach to create climate benefits while also addressing other socio-environmental needs. The project gathers a multi-disciplinary team of leading European experts to develop a research and innovation programme addressing the climate-biodiversity nexus in tight association with the socio-economic dimension of large-scale restoration. The team will also project scenarios to assess Europe’s rewilding potentials under diverse land-use and climate change futures. wildE will (i) generate comprehensive case-comparative data on European rewilding trends and outcomes, (ii) quantify the net social, economic and environmental benefits, synergies and trade-offs related to rewilding and alternative land-use options; (iii) develop cutting-edge projections for future land use and climate scenarios; and (iv) develop tangible and readily accessible decision-support and management guidelines to enable policymakers, conservation managers, communities, and the private sector to co-construct climate-smart rewilding strategies as effective NbS for meeting the EU’s climate and biodiversity targets. Embedded within an ambitious stakeholder engagement, communications programme, wildE research will enable climate-smart rewilding as operational large-scale NbS to effectively foster the natural capacity of Europe’s ecosystems for climate change mitigation, adaptation and biodiversity support.

EFFORTE draws a red line through critical, cost/benefit driving processes, and environmentally concerns of today´s forestry. Starting with efficient fulfilment of various customer demands the red line goes along efficient utilization of Big Data sources, present knowledge and critical new knowledge foreseen as outcomes from this project. Technical development and mechanization has been a winning concept for high productivity now emphasizing more gentle methods and just in time deliveries to different industry customers. This is possible to reach if new knowledge, improved methods and technical development are combined with better transfer of information and data from different sources (e.g processes, geo data from LiDAR scanning, other conditions such as weather data etc).These Big Data sources have been available for some years, but it is not until recently that hardware, data communication and merging possibilities enable full potential for a revolution of new applications. In the EFFORTE proposal we have identified three main subjects that have specific importance for efficiency, productivity and environmental concern in forest practice. Two of these implies to increasing crucial knowledge and the third, Big Data applications, combines the new knowledge with high resolution information sources into practice increasing efficiency in forest management and the connected value chains. The main objectives of EFFORTE are: i) To develop scientifically firm and techno-economically feasible methodology to predict trafficability prior to forest operations. ii) To increase forest growth and productivity of tree planting and young stand management iii) To develop, customize and pilot modern ‘Big data’ solutions that will increase productivity and decrease negative environmental impact (e.g. soil, water and reduced fuel consumption). By EFFORTE we expect to make difference in efficiency, productivity and sustainability for a growing Bio-based economy in Europe.