Extreme events, pathogens, droughts, wildfires, and hydrogeological instability are at the core of current public debate on climate change. Within this environmental context, forests play a central role in climate change mitigation and adaptation. Furthermore, moving from emergency responses to integrated, sustainable and adaptive, climate-smart management requires updated tools and perspectives.

The European Union is setting increasingly ambitious goals for conservation, adaptation, and restoration, as reflected in the EU Forest Strategy for 2030, the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, and the Nature Restoration Law. Moreover, the new regulation on Forest Reproductive Material (FRM) outlines a framework that directly involves the management of Forest Genetic Resources (FGR) and the forest nursery sector.

But are we ready to turn European goals into concrete actions?What knowledge do we already have, and what is still needed to prepare European forests for current environmental and social challenges?

Preliminary results from stakeholder workshops conducted within the Horizon Europe project OptFORESTS already highlight significant differences in how FGR management practices are evaluated across European countries, emphasizing the importance of considering local territorial characteristics and gathering in-depth information. Indeed, European countries face various economic, technological, and socio-political obstacles, including high initial costs for forest restoration practices, limited availability of technologies and specialised staff, overlapping regulations, and stakeholder tensions.

These findings recall the principle of "the right tree in the right place for the right purpose": for a healthy forest, there is no solution that works everywhere. Instead, we must identify species, genetic resources, planting material, and management strategies tailored to different objectives and contexts. Nonetheless, many questions remain open.

For this reason, OptFORESTS invites the forest community to participate in an online consultation aimed at gathering insights from stakeholders on their needs, challenges, and best practices.
Results will be shared with the community to help guide research, policies, and practices for FGR management and conservation.