WindyForests - Forests at the Center of the Global Green Transition
KEY POINTS- Co-production of knowledge
- Multifunctional forest landscapes
- Sustainable wind power development
Project overview
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Short summary
WindyForests explores how wind power, forestry and local interests can coexist in forest landscapes. Through stakeholder collaboration and advanced modeling, the project supports more sustainable decisions for wind power development.
Forests are expected to provide solutions to both global and local challenges. But when expectations collide, conflicts arise. At the same time, synergies between different interests can also create new partnerships.
One example is the green transition, where wind power is being developed in multiple-use forests. These areas are often contested, as wind power, forestry, biodiversity, climate action and local land use all need to coexist.
WindyForests addresses these challenges by co-producing tools, processes and future pathways together with rights holders and stakeholders. The work is carried out in three Living Labs across Sweden – arenas for collaboration and innovation involving many actors.
In the labs, stakeholders and researchers from different disciplines work together iteratively to:
- develop and test new planning tools
- create fair and legitimate collaboration processes
- explore sustainable pathways for the future
The project also evaluates how better forest management and cooperation can reduce conflicts and strengthen synergies between wind power and other forest values.
With this knowledge, WindyForests will provide developers, planners and decision-makers with improved toolboxes for sustainable forest landscape planning – strengthening the ability of forests to meet both global and local challenges.
Participating researchers: Karin Öhman, SLU; Therese Bjärstig, Umeå Universitet; Johan Arnqvist, RISE; Hamidreza Abedi, RISE; Remi Corniglion, RISE.