Established first links to boost resins sector in the Mediterranean basin

INCREDIBLE iNets gather good practices (both practical and science-based) related to production, collection, processing and trade channels of respective NWFPs. Joining an iNet is the best way to establish priorities for each sector related to all aspects of the value chain, focussing on the most urgent needs and challenges for the production, supply and sustainability of NWFPs.

Such issues were already addressed in the Resins iNet Scoping Seminar which took place on 8 and 9 May in Valladolid (Spain). The seminar was a side event of the First SouthWest Europe Forest Bioeconomy Forum , at which the INCREDIBLE project was presented to policy makers, researchers, forestry owners associations, technological innovation and research companies and universities.

Stakeholders expect to strengthen the sector

Several stakeholders from Portugal, France and Spain attended the event, sharing expectations on themes to be addressed by the iNet. These included consolidating employment and improving working conditions, compatibility of resin with other forest uses, and the creation of an inter-professional sectorial association of European scope.

The resin value chain was also examined, with participants noting that product certification adds value, and that industries must go further, by developing more products derived from resins, such as bioplastics and new materials from natural resins. This would go some way to meet the demands of the modern consumer, who is more aware of the origin and destination of the products they buy. An analysis of the sector included fiscal and corporate regulation of resin tapping in Spain, France and Portugal, as well as the state of forest ownership in this region and a review of potential competition factors (such as producers from non-EU countries, substitute products or petroleum products).

A resource to promote local economies

The Resins iNet Scoping Seminar highlighted opportunities for this resource in the long-term (renewable, biological, eco-friendly) and its importance as a catalyst for local economies and preserving socio-cultural traditions.

This scoping seminars will be followed by other sectoral and cross-sectoral meetings within the INCREDIBLE project including workshops, science-to-practice events, cross-cutting seminars (on business models, ICT); a forest policies forum of forest policies.

"We must  value ecosystem services and look for new business models and new ways to link what forests offer with the forest economy", said the head of the EFI Mediterranean Facility – EFIMED, Ignacio Martínez de Arano, in the presentation of INCREDIBLE, who stressed the need to "value non-drilling forest products in order to generate wealth and well-being in both rural and urban society".

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