ForestPaths partners met on 25–26 March 2026 in Joensuu, Finland, to prepare the project’s fourth and final Policy Lab (PL4), a key step toward developing recommendations for Europe’s forest and climate policies. The two-day meeting brought project partners both in person and online to align on the objectives, structure and expected outcomes of PL4, scheduled for October 2026. 

Policy Labs are a central part of the ForestPaths process, designed as interactive workshops where scientists, policymakers, industry actors and civil society representatives jointly engage with research results. Rather than simply presenting findings, these labs allow stakeholders to interpret different forest “pathways”, which are combinations of policy and management actions to achieve climate and biodiversity goals, and assess their real-world implications. This approach helps ensure that final recommendations are both scientifically and practically relevant. 

The Joensuu discussions confirmed that PL4 will focus on analysing trade-offs and co-benefits across different pathways, particularly in balancing climate mitigation, biodiversity protection and economic uses of forests. Participants agreed that the lab should focus on extracting main findings and extracting clear, messages relevant for policymakers and other target audiences. Stakeholders will be invited to assess how well the pathways reflect their earlier visions, compare their impacts and draw conclusions that can inform future decision-making. 

Project partners also emphasised the need to complement modelling results with broader insights, including governance challenges, behavioural factors and feasibility considerations. A key objective will be to clearly communicate not only what the models show, but also their limitations, ensuring transparency and credibility in the final outputs. 

The outcomes of PL4 will directly feed into the project’s final policy pathways synthesis and its policy support platform CANOPY, aimed at different target audiences ranging from policymakers and forest managers to businesses and the general public. As preparations continue, the ForestPaths consortium is working to ensure that the final Policy Lab provides a clear bridge between scientific knowledge and actionable strategies for Europe’s forest future. 

Read more about the previous Policy Labs here.