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The Cascade Funding Stories Are Coming: Spotlight on Spain’s Forest Associations

Smurf Project — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 12:10:26 +0000

SMURF’s Cascade Funding Stories campaign is here! Starting this February, we’re launching a series to showcase the inspiring journeys of associations funded through the first SMURF Cascade Funding Call. From Austria to Sweden, Greece to Spain, each association has its own unique story—challenges faced, achievements earned, and communities impacted.

The goal of the campaign is simple: bring the people and initiatives behind sustainable forest and land management to the forefront, highlighting how innovation, collaboration, and commitment to local territories are creating real environmental and social impact.

Why the Cascade Funding Stories Matter

The Cascade Funding Stories aim to:

Raise awareness of sustainable management practices and their benefits.
Showcase the role of local associations in preserving biodiversity, revitalising rural economies, and enhancing community resilience.
Share lessons and best practices across countries, inspiring other initiatives to scale up or replicate successful models.

Through monthly videos, interviews, and stories, the campaign will explore the diversity of European landscapes and the dedicated people who care for them.

Spain Kicks Off the Series

This year, Spain is the first country featured in the series, highlighting the efforts of three outstanding associations that won the first SMURF Cascade Funding Call. These associations demonstrate how local ownership and sustainable practices can generate real impact for communities and the environment.

Community of Landowners of Baldíos Ocejón – Valverde de los Arroyos, Guadalajara

Nestled in the Sierra Norte of Guadalajara, this community focuses on sustainable forest management, with FSC certification ensuring environmental and social responsibility. Their work protects biodiversity while supporting local economic development through responsible natural resource management, ecological initiatives, and collaboration with local communities and businesses.

Learn more about Community of Landowners of Baldíos Ocejón: https://cpvalverde.com/about/

Montnegre and El Corredor Landowners’ Association (APMC) – Catalonia

Founded in 1992, the APMC unites local forest owners to promote sustainable management, climate adaptation, fire prevention, and silvopastoral practices. The association enhances local products, safeguards landscapes, and revitalises forest estates, creating benefits for both landowners and visitors alike.

Learn more about Montnegre and El Corredor Landowners’ Association (APMC) – Catalonia: Inicio – Associació de propietaris del Montnegre i el Corredor

ProUmbrías – Umbrías, Ávila, Gredos

ProUmbrías is a non-profit association of more than 400 landowners, managing 82% of the municipality’s private land (over 700 Ha). Since its foundation in 2009, the association has worked to manage fragmented rural properties in a joint and sustainable way, collaborating with farmers, local authorities, and the community. Their efforts have:

Improved land use without new infrastructure.
Reduced fire risk.
Supported livestock activity and rural population stability.
Earned national recognition, including awards from CONAMA 2010 and the Castilla y León regional government.

Learn more about ProUmbrías: http://proumbrias.es/

What’s Next

This is just the beginning. Throughout February, the campaign will feature other funded associations from across Europe, sharing their stories through videos, interviews, and articles. Each story highlights the creativity, dedication, and impact of local initiatives driving sustainable forest and land management.

Stay tuned to discover how these projects are shaping their communities and the environment, and celebrate the people making a real difference on the ground.

Innovation, collaboration, and impact—these are the heart of the Cascade Funding Stories.

La entrada The Cascade Funding Stories Are Coming: Spotlight on Spain’s Forest Associations se publicó primero en Smurf project.

Metsäliitto Cooperative

Smurf Project — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 12:31:00 +0000

Metsäliitto Cooperative, the parent company of Metsä Group, is owned by forest owners in Finland. After paying their statutory shares, members can increase their ownership by investing in additional Metsä1 shares.

The cooperative pays annual interest on these shares, and its profit-sharing model rewards members who actively trade wood with the group. This allows forests to keep generating value long after harvesting.

Since 2022, part of Metsäliitto’s profits has been distributed as additional Metsä1 shares, based on each member’s wood deliveries over the previous four years.

Learn more: https://www.metsagroup.com/fi/

La entrada Metsäliitto Cooperative se publicó primero en Smurf project.

Södra Skogsägarna

Smurf Project — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 12:26:51 +0000

Södra (Skogsägarna) is a forestry cooperative based in Växjö, Sweden, and the largest in the country. Over 52,000 forest owners in southern Sweden are members, owning more than half of all privately owned forest in the area.

The group employs around 3,150 people in forestry management, environmental conservation, accounting, sales, and product development. Its three main business areas produce sawn and planed timber goods, paper pulp, and biofuel. In recent years, Södra has become such a large producer of electricity that it now generates more than it consumes. Founded in 1938 through the merger of five southern Swedish cooperatives, one of its founders, Gösta Edström, became Södra’s first CEO.

Learn more: https://www.sodra.com/sv/se/

La entrada Södra Skogsägarna se publicó primero en Smurf project.

NFF – Nordic Family Forestry

Smurf Project — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 12:22:53 +0000

A close cooperation between the national organizations of Nordic forest owners began in 1946, when the NSF was founded. The member organizations of the NSF are the Danish Forest Association (Dansk Skovförening), the Swedish Federation of Family Forest Owners (LRF), the Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners of Finland (MTK), and the Norwegian Forest Owners’ Federation (Norsk Skogeierforbund).

Since 1995, when Finland and Sweden joined the European Union, the organization has been represented at the EU level in Brussels through a joint lobbying office, the Bureau of Nordic Family Forestry.

Learn more: https://www.nordicforestry.org/

La entrada NFF – Nordic Family Forestry se publicó primero en Smurf project.

USSE – The Union of Foresters of Southern Europe

Smurf Project — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 12:16:22 +0000

The Union of Foresters of Southern Europe (USSE) is an European Economic Interest Grouping (EEIG) uniting forester organizations of Southern Europe.

Its headquarters are located in Zamudio, Vizcaya, in the Basque Country, while it has another office in Maison de la Forêt, located at 6 Parvis des Chartrons, 33075 Bordeaux Cedex.

The USSE was founded in 1989, as the initiative of forest owner organisations of Euskadi, Galicia, Aquitaine, Castilla y León and Catalonia; today, the USSE accommodates regional or national associations from Portugal, Spain, the Basque Country, Aquitaine and Greece.

Learn more: https://www.usse-eu.org/en/inicio

La entrada USSE – The Union of Foresters of Southern Europe se publicó primero en Smurf project.

INTERCEDE – Incentivising future forest ecosystem services and incomes in Europe

Smurf Project — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 12:08:35 +0000

The INTERCEDE project is reviewing and assessing market-based instruments (MBIs) across Europe to foster the provision of forest ecosystem services (FES).

Through its stakeholder platform – the Transdisciplinary Forum – the project is engaging end-users to identify MBIs that are scalable, adaptable, and effective in supporting forest and land owners as well as SMEs.

The aim: to create financially viable and socially valuable solutions that benefit both forest owners and society at large.

Learn more: https://intercede-project.eu/

La entrada INTERCEDE – Incentivising future forest ecosystem services and incomes in Europe se publicó primero en Smurf project.

COPA-COGECA

Smurf Project — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 11:32:47 +0000

Copa and Cogeca are the united voice of farmers, foresters and agri-cooperatives in the EU.

They ensure that EU agriculture and forestry are sustainable, innovative and competitive, while guaranteeing food security for 500 million people throughout Europe. Copa represents over 22 million farmers and their family members whilst Cogeca represents the interests of 22,000 agri-cooperatives. They work to promote sustainable forest management and the multifunctional role of forests. Together with their members, they also work on enhancing the production and use of renewable energy on farms by exploring new opportunities and overcoming barriers.

copa*

Copa (the Committee of Professional Agricultural Organisations) represents over 22 million European farmers and their family members in a combined effort with its members to promote the best interests of the agricultural sector among the EU institutions and other relevant stakeholders.

cogeca*

Cogeca (the General Confederation of Agricultural Cooperatives) represents the general and specific interests of European agri-food, forestry, and fishery cooperatives among the EU Institutions and other socio-economic organisations contributing to European decision making.

Meet the Secretariat

The Copa-Cogeca Secretariat provides market monitoring, policy, scientific and legal analyses, sectorial expertise and communication support to Copa and Cogeca national member organisations. They organise 300+ meetings every year and regularly publish reports, position papers and press releases, which are translated into 7 languages.

Learn more: www.copa-cogeca.eu

Twitter – Facebook – LinkedIn – Youtube –Instagram

La entrada COPA-COGECA se publicó primero en Smurf project.

METSAKESKUS – The Finnish Forest Center

Smurf Project — Sat, 14 Dec 2024 23:16:55 +0000

Metsäkeskus: Leading Sustainable Forest Management for Small Forest Holders

The Finnish Forest Center (Metsäkeskus) is a government-linked organization under Finland’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. As a pioneer in sustainable forestry, Metsäkeskus plays an important role in advising forest owners and promoting sustainable practices. Its mission is rooted in providing expert guidance on forest management, facilitating the responsible use of natural resources, and ensuring compliance with forest legislation.

Three Key Achievements:

Unparalleled Forest Resource Database
Metsään.fi Service for Forest Owners
Accessible Open Forest Data

Why Metsäkeskus is a Sector Leader?

The Finnish Forest Center stands out as a model for how to integrate technology, sustainability, and community engagement in forestry. By empowering small forest holders with cutting-edge tools like Metsään.fi, it democratizes access to forest management expertise. Its focus on innovation and comprehensive forest data ensures sustainable practices that benefit both the environment and private landowners.

Metsäkeskus represents a gold standard in leveraging digital solutions to promote sustainable forestry and protect forest ecosystems for future generations.

Learn more: www.metsakeskus.fi/en

LinkedIn – X (Twitter) – YouTube

La entrada METSAKESKUS – The Finnish Forest Center se publicó primero en Smurf project.

IUFRO (International Union of Forest Research Organizations)

Smurf Project — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 17:22:11 +0000

Know a successful support system: The Small-Scale Forestry Unit (3.08.00) is a group of researchers working world-wide in the explotation of the social, economic and technical dimensions of farm, family, non-industrial and community forestry. The oldest support system working for Small Forest Holdings at the international level.

It’s part of IUFRO, the International Union of Forest Research Organizations, that is a non-profit, non-governmental international network of forest scientists that aim to comprise knowledge generation, knowledge sharing and capacity building.

The Unit was founded in 1986, as a co-operative effort of IUFRO Divisions 3, 4 and 6. The main topics of the contributions presented at the meetings have dealt with economic and policy issues and also technical aspects of small-scale forestry.

More information on their expertise, the coordinating team and their activities is available here

They organize an annual conference and its last edition took place in Tartu (Estonia).

Since 2002, the Unit is also responsible of the main international scientific journal focused on this topic, “Small-Scale Forestry“, accessible here . It is particularly useful to the global research community, policy makers, and forest managers. This is the oldest support system working for Small Forest Holdings at the international level.

La entrada IUFRO (International Union of Forest Research Organizations) se publicó primero en Smurf project.