ForestCom experts shared knowledge among scientists during the 7th Forum Carpaticum

ForestCom experts participated in the 7th Forum Carpaticum “Carpathian Futures – Critical Transitions.” The event took place from September 25th to 28th in Krakow, Poland. The forum brought together scientists, practitioners, and stakeholders who shared their latest research and discussed challenges and potential adaptation strategies in response to current environmental, economic, and socio-political crises in the Carpathian region.

The Forum included presentations of practical examples and case studies of ongoing and completed projects implemented in the Carpathians, a separate session focused on Ukraine.

On behalf of the team, ForestCom was presented online by Executive Director Dmytro Karabchuk and Project Manager Oksana Pelyukh. Dmytro, an expert in forest policy, presented an oral presentation: “Monitoring forests from illegal logging in Ukraine for 2020 - 1st half of 2023,” which builds on the previously published report: “Mitigating Illegal Logging in Ukraine: ForestCom Monitoring Report (2020 - first half of 2023)”. The topic included the main results of the ForestCom research on illegal logging that happened in the Ukrainian Carpathians and some information on the war that affected the Ukrainian forests. Oksana, Ph.D. in Economics, presented the bioenergy topic: “Challenges and prospects of schools moving towards energy autonomy in the Ukrainian Carpathians.”

The interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary meeting facilitated the exchange of knowledge and experiences on sustainable and pro-environmental solutions in use in the management of the Carpathians and other mountain regions. Networking side events provided a platform for exploring collaborative opportunities among scientists and stakeholders from across the region.

The Forum was supported by the German Federal Environment Ministry’s Advisory Assistance Programme (AAP) for environmental protection in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, and other countries neighboring the European Union. It is supervised by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation and by the German Environment Agency through the project Carpathian ESD: Strengthening the ESD network in the Carpathian Convention via science-policy-practice interface.