The Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association (EMEA), project partner of the EU funded REFOREST project has launched a co-creation and engagement platform for the REFOREST project. The platform aims to support community building, the engagement of various actors during the project implementation, and to enable knowledge transfer, training and innovation.
The platform will enable and sustain co-creation activities, including scoping and integration of research to agricultural practice and policy formulation support. Target groups and stakeholders involved in co-creation will have access to knowledge, instruments, tools, data and results generated by the project.
EMEA will update and maintain the platform for the duration of the project. The platform will closely involve the European Agroforestry Federation (EURAF), which will take it over and ensure that the feed of information can continue beyond the end of the project.
The platform is developed by first mapping the target groups and stakeholders to be engaged during the co-creation and capitalisation process of the REFOREST project. Desk research was carried out on the mapping of target groups and stakeholders, their relationship with agroforestry, their main needs and concerns, and potential engagement channels.
According to the research the main beneficiaries of the platform can be summarised as follows:
- The REFOREST project partners (14 partners from 10 European countries)
- Farmers and landowners (e.g., farmers, farming associations, agroforestry groups, landowners)
- European, national, regional, and local environmental and agricultural policymakers (e.g., (regional/national scale) local environmental bodies, ministry of agriculture, regulators, (EU scale) European Commission)
- Scientific community (e.g., scientists, academia, research institutions)
- Agroforestry value-chain stakeholders (agroforestry value-chain actors, including industry, farmers, landowners, processors, inputs suppliers, retailers, consumers, trees nurseries)
- Wider society (e.g., Citizens/the public, media)
- Agricultural and forestry consultancy actors (e.g., farm advisors, external advisors, planners)
- Private sector (Businesses, firms)
- NGOs
- Other interested parties
The implementation and management of the platform is carried out in three stages:
- 1st stage – March 2023: Community-building actions – March 2023
- 2nd stage – December 2023: Development of working groups and engagement of livings labs and case studies
- 3rd stage – December 2024: Visualisation of the resources collected (e.g., with the use of maps and figures)
REFOREST is an Horizon Europe-funded project aimed at fostering innovation, supporting knowledge exchange, and providing novel solutions to empower farmers in Europe and associated countries to deliver multiple objectives: food production, carbon capture, and biodiversity.
Link to REFOREST Platform
Link to REFOREST website
