EVOLTREE has the objective to contribute to enhancing understanding of the adaptive capacity of trees and forest ecosystems to climate change (looking at trees and associated organisms), with the ultimate goal of ensuring that appropriate management practices, based on scientific findings, are applied to forest ecosystems. Through its dissemination activities, EVOLTREE ensures that the research outputs have a direct influence on policies and result in practitioners using and conserving forest genetic resources more effectively and sustainably.

Furthermore, EVOLTREE has the objective to reduce the current level of fragmentation in research activities on forest genetics and genomics in Europe. The establishment of common infrastructures, such as a centralized DNA repository centre, will represent one of the most significant achievements. Therefore, dissemination activities are particularly focused on communicating the importance of the integration of research efforts and the establishment of common European infrastructures.


The public awareness materials focus on illustrating some key issues related to EVOLTREE. Some of them are listed below:

• the strategic importance of integration of research efforts and infrastructures to undertake large-scale experiments in the area of forest genomics
• a presentation to local, national and international audiences of the Intensive Study Sites, selected for long-term integrated research efforts
• the potential practical implications of the research work in the area of ecosystem genomics
• the potential answers provided by ecosystem genomic studies in addressing forest management issues in the face of climate change

Target Groups

Dissemination activities are dedicated to communication with the scientific community, the general public and relevant stakeholders, selected mostly among policy-makers. The scientific community is reached through updates on the progress of the network and through publications in scientific journals. The strategy to reach out to the scientific community includes the organisation of a final scientific conference on ecosystem genomics, the participation to other scientific meetings and annual events (eg., Plant GEM, IUFRO conferences, etc.), the development and maintenance of the EVOLTREE public website, and the publication of scientific and technical reviews.

Communication, education and dialogue with the general public (consumers, citizens, students, etc.) are implemented to strengthen awareness and to make scientific contents more easily accessible to non-specialists.

Specific actions are targeted to reach relevant stakeholders, selected especially among the policy-makers. A Stakeholder Group has been established and gathers representatives of pan European associations and national governments, working in close collaboration with the Ministerial Conference for the Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE) and the EUFORGEN Networks. Bioversity International (the former International Plant Genetic Resources Institute - IPGRI) coordinates the dissemination work package and directly contributes to dissemination by producing timely updates about the project in the institutional newsletter.