- New alliances
Trees provide key ecosystem services. They are powerful allies for ecological transformation of territories, but as we’ve seen with increasing wildfires, a force to be reconnected with.
We are currently discussing with France's hiking federation (FFR) on how to engage the outdoor crowds in this reconnection process.
THe FFR is a form of governance based on self-organization and volunteering in which users (licensed and trained) are as well classified as the authorities to change the rules and resolve conflicts. They collectively create, mark and maintain 120,000 km of paths and reflect on their jurisdiction.
Imagine if progressively, hikers could benefit from a training to observe trees during hikes, and to help take care of wooded areas.
Nobel Prize winner Elinor Ostrom showed how the engagement of local communities in the forest management increased the vitality of the forest’s ecosystems and economy.
There is a stake in "re-inhabiting" the forest, in the sense of opening up its models of development, management and restoration to daily stakeholders and to the vernacular knowledge of the territory.
Slow and precise territorial development thinking.
extract of FFR path network and wooded areas map in France
