The Supra-Autonomous Operational Group PLANFORLAB, “Network of laboratory forests with improved plants to increase resilience and production in coniferous forests”, will organize a technical seminar next Tuesday, April 1 at 11:00 AM at the Hotel Palacio de Aiete, in San Sebastián. This session will present the project’s main progress and its impact on forest management.
This operational group represents a collaboration between leading entities in the forestry sector with the aim of improving the status of coniferous forests. To this end, innovations in improved genetic material and adaptive silviculture are applied, implementing the innovative concept of the laboratory forest, understood as a forest area dedicated to experimentation, research, and the development of new sustainable management strategies.
Project Benefits and Innovations
PLANFORLAB seeks to improve the resilience and productivity of coniferous forests through:
- Greater resistance to pests and diseases, including the pine wood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus), Fusarium, and red and brown band needle blight.
- Adaptation to climate change, through the implementation of silvicultural models that optimize forest growth and stability.
- Improvement of wood quality, promoting the economic sustainability of plantations.
- Development of innovative genetic material, with the production of new improved plants of Pinus pinaster, Pinus radiata, and Pinus sylvestris.
To achieve these objectives, advanced forest reproduction techniques, both sexual and vegetative, are being used to obtain plants of high genetic quality. These will be evaluated in experimental plots within the laboratory forests.
During the seminar, representatives of the entities participating in the project will present their work and explain the positive impact that PLANFORLAB will have on the forestry sector.
Following the technical session, there will be a visit to the laboratory forest of Azpeitia, in Gipuzkoa.
The supra-autonomous Operational Group PLANFORLAB is composed of Asociación Forestal de Galicia (AFG), Confederación de Forestalistas del País Vasco (CFPV), Federación de Asociaciones Forestales de Castilla y León (FAFCYLE), Empresa de Transformación Agraria S.A., S.M.E., M.P. (TRAGSA), Fundación Empresa Universidad Gallega (FEUGA), Confederation of Spanish Silviculturists Organizations (COSE), and as subcontracted members LOURIZÁN Forest Research Center, NEIKER Technology Center, University of Valladolid Foundation (UVa) and Forest Science Institute of the INIA-CSIC.
Event details:
When: Tuesday, April 1
Duration: 11:00 AM – 2:30 PM
Format: In-person
Location: Hotel Palacio de Aiete; Goiko Galtzada Berria, 27, 20009 Donostia, Gipuzkoa
The PLANFORLAB project is part of the Strategic Plan of the Common Agricultural Policy (PEPAC) 2023-2027, 80% funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) of the European Union and 20% by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA). The General Directorate for Rural Development, Innovation and Agri-Food Training (DGDRIFA) is the authority responsible for the application of these grants.
Total project budget: €599,134.24 Total grant: €599,134.24
