On 10-13 January 2017 a meeting within the European network LIFE + projects took place in Rovaniemi, Finland. The meeting was attended by representatives of NATNET Life+ projects (LIFE06 NAT / FIN / 000128) and HESOFF Life+ (LIFE11 ENV / PL / 000459). The NATNET project is coordinated by the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY), while HESOFF by the Institute of Aviation.
The networking meetings were attended by Sari Sivonen and Jouni Rauhala (NATNET), Sylwia Nasiłowska and Jan Kotlarz (HESOFF), Maarit Middleton and Raimo Sutinen (Geological Survey of Finland, GTK) and Rainer Peltola, Juli Raulira, Ari Nikula, Kari Makitalo from the Institute of Natural Resources LUKE . The meetings included a presentation of the goals and current status of both projects, as well as of co-ordinating bodies.
The following areas of cooperation were agreed, on the basis of experience in the Life+ projects:
- moisture content tests (conductivity) of soil in forests to identify better stressors in the dying forest complexes in Europe,
- application of the methodology developed at the Institute of Aviation for estimating the degree of defoliation on the basis of aerial photographs,
- research on the effects of the type of soil and geological structures on tree stand against resistance drought,
- research of the undergrowth in Finnish forests, the problems associated with the mapping, monitoring and geolocation,
- monitoring damage to forests in Finland caused by animals,
- monitoring of biodiversity in forests of northern Russia,
- the use of UAV’s and manned aircraft for monitoring forest large areas.
The discussion is to result in a common project submitted under a Horizon contest in 2017.
More about the HESOFF project can be found here.
