The final event of the RECONECTA project will be held on December 10 at the Center for Innovation in Rural Bioeconomy of Teruel (CITA Teruel). The meeting will bring together owners, technicians, administrations, and local entities to assess what has been achieved during the project and reflect on what remains to be done. The event will take place in both in-person and online formats from 9:30 AM to 2:30 PM.
The project «Reconnecting forest owners with their properties for the sustainable management of abandoned woodlands» (RECONECTA) began in February 2024 with the goal of identifying, supporting, and motivating owners of forest properties that are in a state of abandonment. It has worked in the provinces of Cuenca, Soria, and Teruel, promoting tools, technical analyses, and collaborative spaces that reinforce the environmental, economic, and social value of managed woodlands, while also generating opportunities for rural development through forest bioeconomy.
During the meeting, the results of the project will be presented, dialogic spaces will be opened among the various territorial actors, and opportunities will be identified to transform abandoned woodlands into managed, productive, and resilient spaces, with a direct impact on local development and the rural economy. The coordinator of CITA Teruel, Marta Barba, emphasizes that «Teruel has demonstrated that innovation in rural areas is possible when alliances are generated» and underscores that «what has been achieved is a starting point, not an end.»
RECONECTA is coordinated by the Soria Forestry Association (ASFOSO) in collaboration with Global Nature Foundation, the Agri-Food Research and Technology Center of Aragon (CITA Aragon), and the City Council of Cuenca, through the Urban Forest Innovation Lab (UFIL) project. It is supported by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) as part of the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan (PRTR), financed by the European Union through NextGenerationEU.
