New allies for forests – stakeholder engagement in the TRANSFORMIT French demo forest
The Nezer Forest, selected as the site for the French TRANSFORMIT Living Lab, is also part of several other local consultation projects and living lab initiatives. These parallel efforts align synergistically with the objectives of TRANSFORMIT, fostering a community of diverse, engaged stakeholders eager to exchange ideas on topics such as forest management, biodiversity, social expectations regarding ecosystem services, carbon sequestration, and more. Nezer Forest benefits from its large size, which is well above the regional average for landholdings, offering a broad range of management practices. Additionally, both the forest’s owner and its manager are committed to open dialogue with society.
One of the parallel projects led by the French national center of forest property (CNPF), called Sylva-Cités, aimed to foster territorial consultation to enhance the multifunctionality of the forest. The approach consisted of a series of 3 workshops held between May and December 2024, bringing together approximately twenty stakeholders representing a diverse range of profiles including municipalities, environmental NGOs, firefighting services, industrials, forestry practitioners and recreational users.
The first workshop on 21 May 2024 provided an opportunity to visualize and understand the different services and uses of the Nezer forest. Participants identified and discussed the most important ecosystem services (ES) in the area according to their aspirations. The consultation tools used led to a consensus on prioritizing the following ES: wood production, carbon storage, biodiversity conservation, education/awareness-raising, mitigation of natural hazards and hunting.
During the second workshop on 25 June, participants were invited to map the identified services and uses onto the property’s spatial layout. This spatialization first sought to depict the forest’s current state, followed by adjustments to reflect the expectations and priorities of each stakeholder group. The outcomes of the participants’ discussions are summarized in the table below:
| Ecosystem services | Ranking of the most important ES | Target distribution in the Nezer Forest (percentage of surface area) | Evolution compared to initial state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wood production | #1 | [80 – 100] % | ↘ |
| Carbon storage | #2 | [95 – 100] % | = |
| Biodiversity hotspots | #3 | [10 – 20] % | ↗ |
| Education / Awareness-raising | #3 | [5 – 30] % | ↗ |
| Mitigation of natural disasters | #5 | [20 – 30] % | = |
| Hunting | #5 | [90 – 100] % | ↘ |
These discussions highlighted several fascinating topics. For instance, a trade-off emerged between the importance of raising public awareness about forestry issues and providing educational facilities, on the one hand, and the need to respect the private nature of the property and minimize the impact of visitor traffic, on the other.
The third workshop on 3 December focused on exploring the level of risk awareness among recreational users, especially new residents. Forestry professionals have noticed a growing number of inappropriate behaviors from recreational users, such as endangering themselves during sylvicultural work or periods of fire vigilance, dumping waste in the forest or failing to notify the owner before organizing collective activities. But rather than opting for restrictive measures that might strain relations with recreational users, the workshop provided an opportunity to discuss and propose a large number of innovative initiatives to raise awareness among this public, share the rules of good conduct, and foster a sense of collaboration. This way, recreational users can become allies for nature protection and vigilance against incivilities.
As a peri-urban private forest, the Nezer forest faces a growing number of challenges, including addressing the needs of local residents, preserving biodiversity, and adapting forest management to future conditions. This territorial consultation process, involving a wide variety of stakeholders, provides a valuable opportunity to better understand the expectations of all parties and develop tailored solutions. The TRANSFORMIT project will provide tools to more effectively measure efforts in each of the social, ecological and economic dimensions of forest management. Additionally, it will foster reflection and facilitate the sharing of best practices for forest integrative management on a European scale.
(left) Map of the Nezer forest, a 3,000-hectare private property and French TRANSFORMIT living lab, (right) results of the stakeholder expectations workshop on the provision of ecosystem services. Amélie Demanet © Melinea