Events
In May, Castilla-La Mancha brought WOOD4LIFE to Amsterdam for a high-level European discussion on the future of the EU Bioeconomy Strategy.
On 13 May 2026, WOOD4LIFE was presented at the side event "Initiatives for a successful green transition", held during the ERIAFF Annual Conference in Amsterdam (11–13 May 2026).
The event was jointly organised by the ERIAFF Working Groups on Forested Regions and on Bioeconomy and Resilience, bringing together policymakers and regional authorities from across Europe to explore how the new EU Bioeconomy Strategy can support the green transition. It offered a concrete space to exchange good practices and identify pathways for turning regional forest potential into economic and environmental value.
The Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha, WOOD4LIFE's project coordinator, participated at the highest institutional level. The delegation, composed of Deputy Minister of the Environment José Almodóvar Araez, Director General for Natural Environment and Biodiversity Susana Jara Sánchez, and Head of Area Alfredo Chavarría Samper, presented WOOD4LIFE as a working example of how sustainable forest management, forest-owner governance and wood-based value chains can contribute to climate change mitigation and regional development.
The conference confirmed that the approach WOOD4LIFE is piloting in Castilla-La Mancha and the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines - connecting forests, communities and markets - is directly relevant to the broader European conversation on bioeconomy and land use.
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The European WOOD4LIFE project was represented at the Like Token CO2 Congress, held in Murcia from February 19 to 21, 2025, through the participation of Ricardo Ruiz Peinado, researcher at the Institute of Forestry Sciences (ICIFOR-INIA) of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and partner of the project.
During his speech, Ruiz Peinado presented a paper entitled "The WOOD4LIFE project: carbon sequestration in durable wood products (from forest to industry)", in which he explained how improved forest management can contribute significantly to climate change mitigation. The presentation highlighted the role of long-lived wood products as carbon sinks outside the forest, as well as the need to revive the forest value chain to ensure sustainable and resilient management in the face of abandonment and fragmentation of forest ownership.
WOOD4LIFE, co-financed by the European Union's LIFE program, works both in Castilla-La Mancha and in the National Park of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines (Italy), applying sustainable forest management practices that improve carbon sequestration, biodiversity and wood quality. The project also promotes innovative tools and business models to strengthen the role of the forestry sector in the transition to a low-carbon economy, in line with the European Carbon Farming initiative.