On 23-24 April 2018, LIFE HEALTHY FOREST project organised its sixth coordination meeting in Cangas de Narcea, Asturias. During the first session on April 23rd, representatives from the four project beneficiaries -NEIKER, Instituto Vasco de Investigación y Desarrollo Agrario, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Fundación Hazi Fundazioa and Desarrollo de Estrategias Exteriores (DEX)- discussed and presented the progress being made in the last period and took decisions for the last project year. The partnership also reviewed the main aspects regarding project management and coordination, including the financial performance and the submission of the Progress report, as well as main communication activities and networking with other projects.
Second day was devoted to visit Muniellos, the largest forest area of Asturias, counting with the biggest oak wood in Spain (5,000 hectares) and one of the best preserved Atlantic forests of all Europe. In the year 2000 it was awarded the title of Reserve of the Biosphere by UNESCO and today it is the most protected natural area in the region.
LIFE HEALTHY FOREST is one of the 96 projects selected by the LIFE programme out of the 1117 applications received by the European Commission within the Environment & Resource Efficiency Subprogramme in the first call for projects for the period 2014-2020.
The project, co-financed by the LIFE Programme, is developing an innovative and unique integrated system to the early detection and evaluation of the impact of forest decline through the combination of expertise areas, encompassing from molecular to remote sensing techniques. This system is being implemented at regional scale across the three provinces of the Basque Country, as knowledge base for the EU Forest and Biodiversity policy.