On 23 September, Milieu hosted a hybrid Focus Group Meeting as part of the SMURF project, welcoming around 50 participants at its premises in Brussels and online. Attendees included forest owners’ associations from the local, regional, national and European levels, forest advisors, project partners, advisory board members, and representatives of forestry research institutes, NGOs and land registry associations.
The SMURF project, for which Milieu leads the relevant task, examines the legal and funding frameworks applicable to small forest owners and holders across the EU. This is an area central to sustainable forest management and rural livelihoods, as small forest owners and holders manage a significant share of Europe’s forests while often facing fragmented rules on ownership, registration and access to funding.
During the meeting, participants discussed the main findings, preliminary conclusions and recommendations of the project’s draft overview reports, which present a comparative analysis drawing on data from country reports across the EU. The programme combined presentations with interactive discussions on key issues, including forest owners’ rights and obligations, access to funding, financing schemes, and forest land ownership and registration.
The meeting brought together a wide range of perspectives from across the forestry sector, reflecting the diversity of stakeholders concerned by the legal and financial frameworks governing small forest ownership in the EU.
The contributions gathered from participants will help refine the SMURF reports and inform the project’s next steps, ensuring that the analysis reflects the realities faced by small forest owners and holders throughout the EU. Milieu thanks all participants for their engagement and valuable input.
