Challenges, motivations, and perspectives ofpractitioners on forest restoration acrossseven European countries

Abstract

Forest restoration is crucial in addressing nature degradation, enhancing climate adaptation and mitigation, supporting ecosystem ser-vices, and reducing disaster risk. Understanding practitioners’ perspectives is essential for identifying barriers to successful restorationand improving the effectiveness of future initiatives. This study employs a mixed-methods approach, integrating qualitative data fromseven practitioner workshops and quantitative data from an online survey conducted across seven European countries (Austria,Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, and Serbia). The survey included 110 respondents, while 203 practitioners participatedin workshops. Their primary motivations for engaging in restoration included a desire for ecosystem stability and nature preservation,followed by knowledge acquisition, responsibility for environmental stewardship, and climate change mitigation. Despite these chal-lenges, practitioners highlighted advances in monitoring technologies, the diversification of project objectives, and increased publicengagement as positive developments. The study concludes that a collaborative approach—enhancing the involvement of practitionersin policymaking—is critical for future restoration success. Additionally, growing public interest in ecological restoration presents anopportunity for alternative funding sources, which could address financial constraints and strengthen restoration efforts across Europe.

This research was funded by the H2020-LC-GD-2020(SUPERB Project, grant agreement number 101036849). Weare grateful to all participants of the workshops and knowledgeholders who shared valuable insights from their experience inforest restoration. In particular, we would like to thank the localorganizers of the seven workshops, who also helped to dissem-inate the survey and translate the discussions to the respectivelocal languages. The study was also partially supported by theInstitute of Dendrology, Polish Academy of Sciences, K ornik,Poland. S.d.-M. was supported by a Serra Húnter Fellowshipprovided by the Government of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya). Sergio de Miguel made critical feedback and edits to themanuscript. All participants provided informed consent for participation in both the workshops and the follow-up online surveyby registering for the events and voluntarily engaging in theactivities. This research was conducted as part of the H2020SUPERB Project (grant agreement number 101036849). For-mal ethical approval was not required according to institutionaland national guidelines, as the study involved voluntary partic-ipation in a professional capacity without the collection of sen-sitive personal data. All participants were informed of thestudy’s purpose, participation was voluntary, and anonymitywas maintained in data reporting. No personal or identifyinginformation was collected.