International Day of Forests: an update on research at BETA

To mark International Day of Forests, BETA is highlighting its work in forestry economics.

This work is primarily carried out within the Environment, Forestry and Energy Research Group (EFE).

Established in 2024 and led by Anne Stenger and David Desmarchelier, this group brings together researchers working in the field of environmental and natural resource economics, focusing on three main scientific areas: Environment & Health, Ecosystem Services & Environmental Impacts and Natural Resources & Energy. This research also forms part of one of the six societal challenges for sustainable development championed by BETA: Energy and Ecological Transition and Climate Change.

A brief overview of research projects, theses, platforms and publications dedicated to forests, in which BETA members are involved.

Research projects

The PERCEVAL project (PERCEiving and VALuating forest ecosystem services), under the scientific leadership of Serge Garcia (INRAE Research Director, BETA), supported by the TETRAE Programme, co-funded by INRAE and the Grand Est Region, and carried out in partnership with Des Hommes et Des Arbres (DHDA), BETA, the University of Lorraine and the MSH Lorraine, is a participatory research project based in the Grand Est region, whose aim is to co-develop an innovative system for valuing biodiversity and forest ecosystem services.

The PC X‑RISKS – Analysis and management of multiple risks to forest socio-ecosystems is a national research project coordinated by INRAE, as part of the PEPR FORESTT, co-led by Marielle Brunette (INRAE, BETA) and Eric Rigolot (INRAE, ECODIV), bringing together a broad consortium of higher education institutions, research organisations and forestry bodies. Running for six years (2024–2030) and with a budget of €5 million, the project is based on the observation that forest risks (storms, fires, pests, economic and geopolitical risks, etc.) can no longer be studied in isolation

Current PhD theses

An agricultural engineer and environmental economist, Killian Baué is devoting his PhD thesis to understanding and modelling the multiple risks facing forests — storms, bark beetles, fires, etc. — and to evaluating public policies capable of addressing them. Entitled “Modelling multiple risks in forests: what economic instruments for the resilience of the forest-wood sector and the forest carbon sink?”, this thesis, carried out at BETA under the supervision of Marielle Brunette, INRAE Research Director, is co-funded by the PEPR FORESTT (X-RISKS targeted project) and the INRAE X-RISKS Metaprogramme. He explains his thesis topic in an interview for Factuel

Other theses currently underway at BETA focus on forests: :

• Clémence Barrey, An economic approach to the perception of multiple risks in forests, supervised by Marielle Brunette
• Abdoul Latif Sokoundou, International Trade and Forests: Implications for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation, supervised by Philippe Delacote
• Laura Peralta, Access to land and deforestation in the post-conflict context of Colombia, supervised by Julien Jacob and Philippe Delacote

Platforms and other tools

TheObservatory for the Forest Economy (OLEF), led by Serge Garcia and Alexandra Niedzwiedz, provides reliable data and indicators on the forest economy. Two recent developments have marked its evolution:

• the allocation of a DOI, which enhances the traceability and citation of data;
• Alexandra Niedzwiedz’s contribution to a national report aimed at clarifying the methods and data available to better understand the volumes of timber mobilised in France.

The French Forest Sector Model (FFSM) is a forecasting model developed since 2008 at the Forest Economics Laboratory (LEF), and subsequently at BETA, to analyse and anticipate developments in the French forestry sector.

Publications récentes

The book “Contracts in the agricultural, forestry and fisheries sectors. A dialogue between law, economics and sociology”, edited by Marie-Benoit Magrini, Raphaèle-Jeanne Aubin-Brouté, Zohra Bouamra-Mechemache, Gérard Marty and Annick Vignes, was published in May 2025 by Éditions Quae.

In addition to coordinating the book, Gérard Marty, an associate member of BETA, co-authored Chapter 3: A Sociological Approach to Analysing Contracts (with Thomas Debril). Furthermore, Gérard Marty is also a co-author, alongside Ahmed Barkaoui (BETA) and Arnaud Dragicevic, of Chapter 8. Timber supply contracts from French public forests: a mechanism serving the sector?

You will also find below a selection of our members’ most recent publications addressing forestry-related topics:

• Tommaso Chiti, Ana Rey, Jens Abildtrup, Hannes Böttcher, Jurij Diaci, Oliver Frings, Aleksi Lehtonen, Helga Pülzl, Andreas Schindlbacher, Miguel A. Zavala, A review of forest management practices potentially suitable for carbon farming in European forests, Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 398, 2026, 128391, ISSN 0301-4797, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.128391
• Delacote, P., Chabé-Ferret, S., Creti, A. et al. Restoring credibility in carbon offsets through systematic ex post evaluation. Nat Sustain 8, 733–740 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01589-7
• T. A. P. West, K. Alford-Jones, P. Delacote, et al. 2025. Demystifying the Romanticized Narratives About Carbon Credits From Voluntary Forest Conservation. Global Change Biology 31, no. 10: e70527. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70527
• S. Desbureaux, I. Kabore, G. Vaglietti, M. Baghai, P. Lindsey, A. Robson, P. Delacote, & A. Leblois, Collaborative management partnerships strongly decreased deforestation in the most at-risk protected areas in Africa since 2000, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 122 (1) e2411348121, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2411348121 (2025)
• Delacote, P., L’Horty, T., Kontoleon, A. et al. Strong transparency required for carbon credit mechanisms. Nat Sustain 7, 706–713 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01310-0
• Chiti, T., Rey, A., Abildtrup, J., Böttcher, H., Diaci, J., Frings, O., Lehtonen, A., Schindlbacher, A., Zavala, M.A. 2024. Carbon farming in the European forestry sector. From Science to Policy 17. European Forest Institute. https://doi.org/10.36333/fs17