FOREXT Annual Meeting 2025 in Lithuania: Collaboration and Innovation

The 13th Annual Meeting of FOREXT took place in Kaunas, Lithuania in early October 2025. Hosted by the Lithuanian Agricultural Advisory Service, the meeting brought together forestry advisors and researchers from across Europe to reflect on the past year, share knowledge, and plan future activities.

During the first day, the network had strategic discussions on FOREXT’s governance and priorities for the coming years. Members explored how the network can make its wealth of experience and information more accessible to those who need it most.

The second day was carried out around thematic sessions focused on forest soil health, resilience, and practical tools for advisory work. Highlights included:

• Insights from the SOILL-Startup project on empowering existing Mission Soil Living Labs and foster a collaborative ecosystem that brings together stakeholders, policymakers, researchers, and practitioners
• HoliSoils  presented their synthesis for practitioners and forest extension services.

• Research from Lithuania on greenhouse gas emissions from drained peatlands and Norway spruce vulnerability as well as phytosanitary challenges in Lithuanian forests.
• Demonstrations of innovative tools such as the SOILL Hub, HoliSoils toolkit, NBSOIL Academy, Forest Sharing platform, and WoodsApp®.
• An introduction to the Pan-European Forest Risk Facility (FoRISK)

Collaboration was at the heart of the event, with contributions from projects including FORADVISE and TRANSFORMIT.

Participants also enjoyed a field trip to the Dubrava Arboretum, which hosts over 800 different species and subspecies of plants. In the Dubrava Strict Nature Reserve, they visited an experimental plot used for measuring greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as a long-term observation plot that was previously dominated by Norway spruce. Bark beetle outbreaks and windthrow events have affected spruce regeneration there, allowing common hazel and mountain ash to become strong competitors.

A big thank you to our Lithuanian hosts and to all partners who joined onsite and online. These inspiring days reaffirmed the value of working together to tackle common challenges and strengthen forest resilience across Europe.