Entering the forest…

Key conclusions · 1st European Conference on Small Forest Holdings

The SMURFForest

Guiding future action for small forest holdings across Europe.
Six themes, one forest — walk in, or pick a tree on the trail.

FAO Headquarters, Rome 20–22 May 2025

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Funded by the European UnionHorizon Europe · GA 101135516
More than 200 attendeesOver 40 Forest Owner Organizations8 technical sessions47 panelists10 key conclusionsThe LAURUS Network has been launchedMore than 200 attendeesOver 40 Forest Owner Organizations8 technical sessions47 panelists10 key conclusionsThe LAURUS Network has been launched
Six themes · One forest

Key outcomesfrom each session.

More than 200 attendees, representing over 40 different Forest Owner Organizations across Europe and many other stakeholders from forest-based value chains, gathered at FAO headquarters in Rome from 20 to 22 May 2025 to discuss the main issues affecting European small forest holdings, including their challenges and opportunities.

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Conference conclusions · 10

Guiding future actionfor small forest holdings.

Organized into nine technical sessions and featuring 47 panelists, the event provided a platform for exchange, leading participants to draw the following conclusions:

    Key conclusion 4

    The major
    challenges.

    Small forest holdings and forest owners in the European Union and worldwide are facing many challenges and increased risks in the context of global change and suffer serious structural problems that limit their ability to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the European Forest Strategy goals.

    Small forest holdings · Europe
    Session 1 · Policy, research and management

    Forest owners are solution providers, not obstacles.

    16Mforest holdings — “unknown, estimated to be around 16 million and increasing”

    Forest holdings and forest owners are the fundamental pillars of the different forest-based value chains, delivering the goods and services that Europeans and beyond, now and in the future, benefit from forests and other wooded land. Support from and cooperation with other stakeholders in the value chains will strengthen the entire forest-based sector.

    Forest owner organizations, coordinated in Europe by CEPF, ELO, COPA-COGECA, FECOF, and EUSTAFOR , play a key role in safeguarding the interests of forest owners and forest holdings, in the promotion of sustainable forest management and cooperation among forest holdings, at different territorial levels, from local to global.

    Source: Session 1 (p. 5) · Key conclusions 1–2 (p. 3)

    Key conclusion 10 · Session 5

    The LAURUS Network has been launched.

    Laurus is a new Network for supporting the European Forest Owner Organizations' staff through offering training, innovation, and collaboration to promote greater profitability and sustainability in the small-scale forestry sector. This initiative was born out of the SMURF project and represents one of its first outcomes.

    Download the conclusions PDF Join LAURUS Network

    Watch the full video recording Discover SMURF

    Conference Conclusions: Guiding Future Action for Small Forest Holdings Across Europe · 13 pages