Knowledge and advisory center for forest expansion

Forests and trees are indispensable for both people and nature. They are home to a wealth of plant and animal species, filter particular matter from the air, capture CO₂, purify and retain water, provide cooling, and are a favorite destination for recreation. As such, forests can play a crucial role in addressing major societal challenges. At the same time, the Netherlands has, after Malta, the smallest proportion of forest relative to its total land area of all European countries. This is why Probos is committed to expanding the forested area and enhancing the forest-water mosaic in rural landscapes.

We do this by developing and sharing knowledge, tools, and practical examples—not only in the field of forestry and planting, but also in spatial integration, smart multifunctional land use, and cost-benefit analyses.

Probos is the knowledge and advisory center for forest expansion: from idea generation to planning and implementation, and everything involved in the route to more forests.

Our work focuses on the following themes:

• National forest broker
• Natural forest expansion
• Carbon certificates
• Support to Provinces

National forest broker
IIn 2020, the National Forest Strategy of the Netherlands was presented. One of its ambitions is to increase the forest area by 10% by 2030. This forest area expansion target aims to contribute to national biodiversity and climate goals. Unfortunately without supporting financial mechanisms. This means there is a greater need for multifunctional solutions, such as combining forest expansion with large-scale housing projects, development-for-nature projects, or integrating forests with energy, agriculture, and water management projects. These combinations create win-win situations by enhancing landscape quality, biodiversity, and restoring hydrological systems. As the national forest broker of the Netherlands, Probos assists with various forest expansion issues, as well as related matters such as regulations, spatial planning, and financing for new and existing forests. Probos excels at connecting knowledge and expertise, government and initiators, and land surface and funding. Together with our broad network, we share best practices and connect people and organizations. Challenges we identify are brought to the attention of relevant authorities.

Natural forest development
In addition to planting, natural forest expansion can make a significant contribution to the desired expansion of forests, biodiversity goals, climate objectives, and other societal values. By allowing and enhancing natural processes, highly valuable forest types with unique dynamics and ecological values can emerge. There are also opportunities to expand rare and vulnerable forest habitats in the Netherlands, such as dry hardwood floodplain forests, moist alluvial forests, oak-hornbeam forests, and dune forests. Moreover, this is a relatively cost-effective way to create forests, allowing scarce financial resources to be allocated more efficiently.

There is still limited experience in the Netherlands with natural forest expansion, and too little is learned from the few existing examples. Together with partners, Probos collects existing knowledge from both the Netherlands and abroad, identifies knowledge gaps specific to the Dutch situation, and develops proposals to increase knowledge through (practical) research. This knowledge is translated into concrete guidelines for implementing natural forest expansion.

Carbon certificates
Climate objectives from the Dutch National Climate Agreement play a major role in forest expansion. The agreement states that by 2030, Dutch greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 49% compared to 1990. Increasing the forest area and planting more trees contributes to this goal. To finance this expansion, new funding mechanisms are being explored. Carbon certificates offer a potential source of funding: individuals or companies wishing to offset their CO₂ emissions or contribute to climate goals can purchase carbon certificates from land managers who have established or revitalised forests. Probos provides clear and accessible information to forest managers about carbon certificates: what they are, why they exist, how to obtain them, and how to sell them. Probos can provide (model-based) estimates of the expected long-term CO₂ sequestration in new and revitalized forests.

Supporting Provinces
In September 2022, the Trees and Forests Strategy of the province of Fryslan (co-authored by Probos) was adopted by the Provincial Council. This is the Frisian implementation of the National Forest Strategy of the Netherlands and outlines how the Province of Friesland intends to contribute to increased CO₂ sequestration. On behalf of the Province, Probos provides advice on how to make a smooth transition from policy towards implementation and how to allocate available funding as efficiently and effectively as possible. Probos is now supporting the Province of Friesland in implementing the Trees and Forests Strategy, which includes
• contributing to a user-friendly subsidy scheme and/or adapting existing schemes.
• developing a framework to reach the forest revitalization targets of the Province.
• coordinating with the Province’s ‘nature team’ on forest expansion within the Dutch National Nature Network (NNN).
• assisting partners and initiators with their contributions to the implementation of the Frisian Trees and Forests Strategy.