Forest research should serve internationally as a sound evidence for decision making, both in policy and practice. Therefore, building the capacity for forest research is of high importance and this especially in fragmented regions such as the Mediterranean area.
A mapping of forest research capacities has been done within the ERA-Net FORESTERRA and the results have now been published in the journal “Forest Policy and Economics”. It became obvious that three regional clusters are divided by research dissimilarities in project size, budget, knowledge mobilization, innovation systems and other specific factors. These factors are among others, local labor market legislations, level of involvement in EU research frameworks, national research priorities and how these aligned with EU research priorities.
The defined clusters are:
A = Portugal, North Afrika, and Balkan
B = Italy, France, Spain
C = Turkey