It was 2014 when the Montagne Fiorentine Model Forest Association (Tuscany, Italy), in particular the Culture and Tourism thematic commission, presented the “Tre Passi a Monte” project. Since then seven editions have been held, and it has become an annual event dedicated to environmental education and knowledge of the material and immaterial cultural heritage of the territory.

This September the European Commission will launch the Horizon 2020 GREEN DEAL call (budget 1 billion euros), which will close in early 2021. This call will mobilise research and innovation to foster a just and sustainable societal transition aiming at ‘leaving nobody behind’.

The International workshop “Model Forests and their Importance in Changing Climate Conditions” will be held on 15 and 16 October 2020 in the Lower Morava Biosphere Reserve (Czech Republic) The propose of this event is an introduction of scientific and professional value of Model Forests for sustainable forest and landscapes managements in changing climate. Workshop will create a space for discussion about the strategies for the work of Model Forests. Model Forests around the world work on sustainable principle that is an important factor in fight against negative impacts of climate changes.

An edition, the thirteenth, which will be global, digital and physical, with a rich calendar that will be inaugurated on October 8 and will last until April 2021. The edition is renewed by proposing a new "world geography" that has as its common thread research and protection of biodiversity. The focus is therefore no longer on individual states but on ecosystems

The Montagne Fiorentine Model Forest association, through the Commission dedicated to the Productive Sector, has launched a short video dedicated to the local top producers (farmers, grazers and honey producers) that are part of the Model Forest association, with the aim of stimulating those who look at it to visit the Tuscan lands and choose local, high quality and sustainable products.

“Forest Ed” was born for a simple reason: all official reports, including the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), confirm that climate change is the major challenge of the 21st century for humanity. To address it, a change in the development model is therefore necessary at all levels and in all sectors: environmental, social and economic.

On Tuesday July 7, 2020 the various members (candidates and non-candidates) of the Mediterranean Model Forests Network, the Secretariat of the Mediterranean Network and that of the International Network, met in conference calls to update themselves on the activities they are carrying out and coordinate on any new projects. The meeting initially focused on a report related to the activities carried out by the new secretariat of the Mediterranean Network, which focused on starting new projects, sponsoring others and implementing communication activities.

Do you know what the LIFE Program is? LIFE is a program introduced by the European Union in 1992, with which projects on environmental issues proposed by member countries are co-financed. The aim is to provide specific support for the development and implementation of Community environmental policy and legislation, in particular pursuing the objectives of the seventh Community environment action program. Funded projects can be proposed by operators, bodies or public and private institutions.

The MMFN secretariat, availing itself of the partner Union of Municipalities Valdarno and Valdisieve, yesterday (2020, 19th June) presented a project for the AICS call intended, if funded, to create a new Model Forest in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Networks are an unprecedented relational capital to face the changing world. Especially if these networks operate on similar lands and with the same purposes as the protection of biodiversity and the improvement of the ecological status of forest landscapes and rural territories. In 2015, the MAVA foundation created the Medforval network which deals with forest landscapes and high ecological value forests in the Mediterranean area. The network was born with the aim of exchanging good practices and to implement common projects. Since 2019, the Oikos Institute has coordinated the secretariat of this network, previously coordinated by AIMF.

The Tuscany Regional Council, in its role as MMFN Secretariat, approved a memorandum of understanding with Slow Food International on 25 of May, which has as its main objective the desire to create synergies aimed at promoting the enhancement of rural communities, stimulating the promotion of territorial projects and the agri-food and forestry resources of the territories and which have the key principles for their implementation in economic, environmental and social sustainability.

On May 28, a Skype meeting was held between the International Secretariat (IMFN), the Mediterranean Network (MMFN) and the Russian and Northern European Networks. In addition to the updates on the various ongoing activities, the meeting aimed to increase the collaboration between the various European Model Forests starting from what are the possible collaborations also through common projects. In recent months, the MMFN secretariat had already worked on a project dedicated to the exchange of students in the various Model Forests of the Mediterranean, Russian and North Erupea Networks, unfortunately at the moment postponed due to the current world health situation. The goal, however, is to continue working on projects that bring our Model Forests closer and closer by activating ever more supportive and effective collaboration channels.