The NETTREE proposal will be submitted to the SFS-28 2019 call, which revolves around the improvement (“adding value”) of the quality of information attached to collections of genetic material in Europe. We will focus on the existing network of forests tree Genetic Conservation Units (GCU), a well-established conservation network relying on the identification of natural forest stands of high value, under the coordination of the EU-wide EUFORGEN program, devoted to the protection of European forests and to dissemination of information. GCUs preserve a forest species’ genetic diversity and adaptive potential, so the purpose of European forestry conservation programs is to identify ways to grant the long-term viability of GCU stands. The EU-level monitoring and data collection on GCUs is supervised by EUFORGEN through the EUFGIS information system. In spite of the clarity of objectives of EUFORGEN and of GCUs, methods to identify GCUs are not stardardised across European countries; information attached to each GCU is frequently rudimentary and lacks further interpretation or treatment, thus preventing managers from making sense (and use) of it; indicators of resilience, as well as of potential for breeding for economically or ecologically useful traits, are missing altogether for most GCUs. In this respect, there is a pressing need to “add value” to GCUs and the corresponding information system, making it a more effective monitoring network and a useful resource for conservationists, managers, and breeders. In agreement with the call text, our proposal aims to (a) fill gaps in EUFGIS (e.g., missing ecological information, risk indicators including climatic and societal threats), and update its structure to accommodate the types of information listed below; (b) fill gaps in the GCU network, particularly for eco-regions that are GCU-poor, by suggesting new GCUs, and establish criteria for how to identify new, valid GCUs, including by making use of the information listed below; (c) improve & intensify genotypic and phenotypic information attached to the GCUs, by proposing a standardised set of traits and types of genetic information that should be acquired on all GCUs; this will focus particularly on genomic approaches and on stable (“hard”) traits that respond to different components of climate change (CC) in different eco-regions (e.g., drought in the South, phenological offset in the North); (d) provide standardised indicators of the short-, medium-, and long-term viability of GCUs based on the information collected at points (a)-(c); these will be provided as multidimensional indicators taking into account multiple components of risk and adaptive potential; (e) model the adaptive and plastic response of individual stands to CC, based on information gathered in (c), through individual-based models, thus providing indicators of resilience on the short, medium, and long term; we will rely on extant models, which permit to predict the fate of a population based on the (genetic, physiological, ecological) properties of real or simulated individuals that compose it; (f) provide and test protocols for the collection of data as per points (a)-(c) by the end-user, so that the characterisation of GCUs can be autonomously operated by forest managers; such protocols will propose the end-user standardised methods to collect samples and to interact with specialists who will produce the necessary data; (g) provide a user-friendly interface (linked to EUFGIS) that will allow the end-user to compute indicators and resilience predictions as in points (d) and (e), based on the data obtained in (f), as a support for decision-making on the choice and management of GCUs. The network's activities have already started on partners' own resources, with the setting up of the core network in December 2017-March 2018, and a 3-day meeting (INIA, Madrid, 16-18 April 2018) to establish the work plan and to identify work packages and work package leaders.

The FORESTOPTIONS proposal will be submitted to the 2021 Horizon Europe call, to a topic (HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01-15) that revolves around the protection and sustainable management of forest genetic resources (FGR). The total indicative budget for this Research and Innovation Action is of EUR 8.00 million. European forests are largely undomesticated and contain large amounts of genetic diversity. Thus, we can benefit of these largely untapped FGR to produce added value, maintain ecosystem services, and meet the needs of the EU in terms of climate change mitigation, increased resilience, and biomass (and other forest products) provisioning. Research related to use of FGR and the diversification of forest reproductive materials can also help for the implementation of the European Green Deal and the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, which plans to plant over 3 billion trees by the year 2030. Work on the development of this proposal has been started by a core network of 14 partners providing the necessary multidisciplinary expertise and covering all main climate and biogeographical regions in Europe (France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Romania, Denmark and Finland). In addition, we have included in the consortium a strong representation of the nursery sector and, importantly, the ONF (French National Forest Service), as a major end-user. Other important actors and end-users, in particular those involved in operative forestry plantations and ecosystem restoration, will be identified in the next months and added to the consortium. Collectively, we have identified several innovative actions and cutting-edge research. FORESTOPTIONS addresses all the topics requested by the Call, as well as the four main expected outcomes: i) Enhanced cooperation and knowledge sharing on deployment and conservation of FGR in Europe; ii) Better conservation of unique tree lineages for forest ecosystem restoration and management; iii) Sustainable use of genetic resources within the forest community in a climate change context; and iv) Efficient implementation of the ABS (access and benefit sharing) regulation in the EU. It will also allow to consolidate France as the European leader for research and innovation in conservation and sustainable use of FGR, a process already started via the coordination of other previous and on-going H2020 projects and through the participation of France in EUFORGEN. Moreover, it will project the French scientific contributions on FGR outside Europe, linking with a rich international community, in particular in North America, and federate efforts within France, stimulating multidisciplinary research and allowing to channelize regional resources (e.g. Regional projects, GPRs) to address a topic with major environmental and societal importance.