CO-FOREST - Creating Opportunities FOr Resilience, Entrepreneurship, Sustainability and Training in European Forestry

The CO-FOREST project—Creating Opportunities for Resilience, Entrepreneurship, Sustainability, and Training in European Forestry—tackles critical challenges in forestry education by developing innovative, inclusive, and challenge-driven training content and courses. These programs will equip forestry professionals, students, and stakeholders with the necessary skills to address climate resilience, wildfire prevention, pest and disease management, digital transformation, innovation, and entrepreneurship in the forestry sector. CO-FOREST is structured around three key objectives: (1) Strengthening forestry stakeholder connections, which are currently fragmented, by co-creating solutions to address current educational needs and anticipating future knowledge gaps; (2) Developing and implementing innovative, challenge-driven, and place-based training programs that integrate digital tools and sustainable entrepreneurship. (3) Expanding access, inclusivity, and scaling impact to ensure long-term sustainability and broad adoption of training initiatives in the face of climatic change. The project adopts a Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) and Place-Based Innovation (PBI) approach, ensuring that training programs are practical, innovation-driven, and directly linked to real-world climate and environmental challenges. While tailored to local forestry contexts, CO-FOREST’s outcomes have European and global relevance, contributing to sustainability and resilience across borders. Built on strong European collaboration, CO-FOREST brings together higher education institutions (HEIs), vocational education and training (VET) providers, stakeholder associations, forestry enterprises, policymakers, and local communities from five European countries—Bulgaria, Greece, Estonia, Finland, and Lithuania—ensuring a multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral approach to contemporary forestry education.