*Project BackgroundThe EFMO project has been designed to the meet the needs & demands of European Forest Machine Operators-EFMO. Recent UK & European statistics highlight an unacceptable workplace fatality rate associated with skilled operations undertaken in the agriculture & forestry industries priority sectors for UK & EU health & safety authorities. The EFMO project will particularly focus on the use of forwarders, harvesters and tractors in mechanical harvesting operations & compare western European & eastern European skills & techniques employed. In Ireland over 58% of all agricultural related injuries have been associated with tractor operations, an unacceptably high accident rate. Additionally, twenty-one fatalities to skilled forest machinery operators in Slovenian forest during 2015 for example, is likewise, an unacceptably high fatality rate. Overall, during the last few decades there has been more accidents & fatalities during harvesting, crush injuries due to machine overturns/unexpected movement etc. The EFMO project aims to seriously address these issues.Partners aim to build upon the successful work of previous projects which developed for example the European Chainsaw Certificate (ECC) with the objective in providing similar high quality safety certification for European Forest Machine Operators. In order to enhance training delivery, the EFMO project aims to facilitate best practice & high quality instruction standards & techniques amongst VET providers & skills trainers of courses in machinery operations across Europe & beyond, exchanging knowledge, training innovations & expertise in the process leading to safer trainers & trainees.*Key NeedsThe ultimate project goals & key needs are as follows:1. Develop high quality innovative & standardised EFMO qualifications 2. Develop high quality innovative training guidance for the benefit of EFMO trainers & trainees3. Reduce workplace fatality & incident rates & associated economic and personal costs within the EFMO sectors of agriculture & forestry*Key ObjectivesAchieving the key needs requires the following objectives to be met:1. Develop innovative European occupational safety standards in EFMO 2. Improve transparency & recognition of EFMO skills via innovative European qualifications accredited by ABA International3. Enhance EFMO trainer/operators mobility & employability throughout Europe 4. Encourage & promote life-long learning & continuous professional development within the EFMO sector*Project ParticipantsThe project team are a highly experienced and motivated partnership between industry & training specialists with a desire to improve training standards for the benefit of skilled machine operator safety in agriculture & forestry activities.*Project ActivitiesThe project life-cycle includes a number of tasks required to achieve the needs & objectives. These include for example:• Industry consultations• Seminar & workshop presentations• Training the trainer events• Pilot testing activities• Development of innovative new European qualification guidance• Continuous project dissemination • International certification events• Development of innovative new European training guidance *Project MethodologyThe project will be undertaken in the 3 phases:Phase 1: EFMO Occupational Guidance•Project management meetings: task lists, dissemination plans etc•Train the trainer meetings: upskilling, sharing best practice etc•Develop training standards•Undertake project promotional activitiesPhase 2: EFMO Qualification Guidance•Follow-up project management meetings•Train the trainer meetings: skills consolidation, practice new techniques, pilot test new qualifications etc•Develop new VET training materialsPhase 3: EFMO Pilot Testing•Finalise new VET trainer & trainee training materials •Continued analysis, dissemination & enhancement of project products & goals•Live test new European certifications *Project Impact, Results & Longer Term BenefitsThe project will achieve its objectives including having a positive impact on training innovations of VET machine operator skills safety at the European level. The key results will include:•Promote the integration of the new EFMO qualifications within apprenticeships, further education & higher education programmes•Support the recognition & transnational mobility of forest machine operators & their EFMO qualifications•Support life-long learning & continuous professional development of forest machine operators & EFMO trainers•Support a reduction in accidents & fatalities in the EFMO sector via the successful achievement of the EFMO project & post project as part of the long-term sustainability plans supported by the accreditation body ABA International

European forests are expected to provide a broad range of ecosystem services (ES). This capacity is however threatened by the uncertainties of climate change, the complex dynamics of evolving global markets and the pressures for increased use of bioenergy. Such challenges cannot be effectively addressed with an uncritical regional or national commitment to traditional forest management models (FMMs), as these are unlikely to ensure the sustained long-term provisioning of desired ES, let alone their optimised delivery. ALTERFOR’s goal is thus to facilitate the implementation of FMMs better suited to meeting the challenges of the 21st century by: (1) Identifying and developing FMMs robust in their capacity to deliver ES and overcome projected socio-ecological risks and uncertainties; (2) Assessing the impact of different FMM combinations in terms of resultant ES baskets on the European and landscape level, and (3) Facilitating the implementation of desired FMMs and improving cross-national knowledge transfer regarding their benefits, costs, management, and utilization. The project will involve a consortium of 19 organisations from nine countries chosen due to their possession of the transdisciplinary expertise necessary to achieve these objectives, and for ensuring an encompassing representation of Europe’s socio-economic conditions and prevailing forest management paradigms. Based on carefully designed case studies, the consortium will make sure realistic models of forest owner behaviour are employed; guarantee the involvement of forest stakeholders throughout the project; anchor the desired FMMs to relevant forest actors; and help disseminate project findings to local, national and European stakeholders. The main long-term impact of ALTERFOR is the implementation of FMMs that secure the capacity of Europe’s forests to continue providing a balanced ES basket that societies will depend upon over the coming century.

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.