Report on supporting international networks for FMM alternatives

The project offers a unique chance to identify allies on an international level for FMM alternatives. The ALTERFOR’s approach of linking FMM assessments at different scales, from stand/landscape to EU/global, will deliver facts valuable for linking the political discourse at different levels. The WP2 assessments of the consequences of FMM transitions and adaptations at the EU and global level will provide international stakeholders a clear picture of how different FMMs support their objectives. Providing an accurate projection of global consequences should open up additional opportunities for the identification of acceptable compromises between competing goals such as increasing timber supply and biodiversity. For example, on the EU level the specific DGs and sector related lobby groups will be strongly interested in outcomes related to specific FMM alternatives. WP4 will use such insights from the project to get in contact with actors at the EU level and those involved with global forest-related regimes. Informed by the RIU Model, the research team in Göttingen will conduct expert interviews and analysis of written documents. The investigations are to be completed by a workshop in Brussels with representatives of the EU Commission and associated interest groups. It is expected that the self-interests of international actors in specific FMMs will drive the political, social and economic support for selected FMM alternatives far beyond the life span of the project.