Scientific goals

Forest socio-ecosystems play a crucial role in the processes of adaptation and mitigation of the effects of global changes. However, major threats weigh on the socio-economic, biological, and ecological functionalities of forest socio-ecosystems, and managers and decision-makers face numerous uncertainties. The FORESTT-led PEPR proposes an ambitious research program to address scientific challenges related to the multi-scale functioning of temperate and tropical forest socio-ecosystems, as well as the services they provide, risk assessment and management, and the often conflicting interdependencies between short- and long-term uses and management strategies. FORESTT's ambition is to build, structure, and animate an interdisciplinary, participatory, and transformative forest science focused on action and the implementation of innovative and sustainable solutions that promote the sustainability of forest socio-ecosystems.

FORESTT is structured around four major scientific challenges dedicated to strengthening knowledge in priority research areas.

(1) GOVERNANCE: Addressing societal challenges in the transition of forest socio-ecosystems. Mobilizing forces in Human and Social Sciences to address "forest-wood" issues in a transition context :

• Characterize conflicts/synergies between uses to define compromises in forest management strategies.
• Facilitate decision-making in contexts of uncertainty.
• Understand barriers/levers to innovation to foster collective synergies and changes in practices.
• Define pathways for transforming forest-wood management and governance modes.

(2) BIOECONOMY: Promoting a wood-based, circular, and agile bioeconomy. Supporting technological developments in the wood industry to consolidate its articulation with forest resources and the expectations of a decarbonized economy :

• Explore and valorize the diversity of "qualities" of forest raw materials and their uses.
• Support product and process innovations to promote sustainable valorization of wood qualities.
• Evaluate the performance and sustainability of bioeconomic systems (value chain, biomass flows, circularity).

(3) RESILIENCE: Promoting adaptation, resilience, and mitigation capacities of forest ecosystems. Better understand and anticipate the resilience capacities of forests to global changes :

• Study and mobilize ecological and evolutionary processes to maintain the proper functioning of forest ecosystems.
• Experiment with diversified silvicultural practices at the scale of forest management and planning, favoring the coupling of adaptation and mitigation.

(4) MONITORING: Tracking forest dynamics for management and support to public policies :

• Develop high-resolution methods for forest monitoring (biomass/health/biodiversity).
• Understand and predict forest trajectories for better forest governance and management.

The FORESTT research program will promote interdisciplinary collaboration around social and economic sciences, ecological and environmental sciences, animal and plant sciences, and materials sciences, in both research and training. The program will also establish facilitating structures for innovation, open and co-constructed, around societal issues related to forest management and planning. FORESTT aims to provide operational tools for consultation, negotiation, and decision support for maintaining the proper functioning of forest ecosystems, particularly the preservation of biodiversity, as well as supporting the development of a bioeconomy with high social, economic, and environmental value. FORESTT will contribute to the objectives of low-carbon and biodiversity national strategies, the forest roadmap of ecological planning, and will support the implementation of the new European forest strategy and the national strategy to combat imported deforestation. Our ambition is to elevate France's scientific leadership to the highest international level on this strategic theme and to support expertise and support for national, European, and international public policies through the opening of the research program to stakeholders and the deployment of knowledge transfer actions.

To achieve this, FORESTT capitalizes on the dynamism and diversity of the French scientific community, its international integration, and the strengths of its research facilities in metropolitan France as well as overseas and in tropical regions.