Overall strategy of the work plan

Two work packages will be running from the beginning until the end of the project: WP1 Project Management and WP2 Dissemination and Networking. Since dissemination, the coordination of R&D and networking are closely linked they are managed within one work package, and since these activities are of essential importance in this project, a separate work package is devoted to this significant activity.

Work packages 3 to 7 are focused on a specific topic of thematic work and constitute a logical working sequence.

The first work package of this sequence, WP3 Status of Biomass Resource Assessments, covers two major themes: (i) a comparative analysis of existing resource assessments at the global, European, regional, and national scale, with the aim of analysis of the policy background and the requirements of the users of the information from resource assessments. This will allow the identification of major issues concerning the harmonisation of resource assessments.

In WP4 Analysis of Biomass Resource Assessments, the methodologies and datasets that have been used in major studies identified in WP3 will be analysed in order to identify common approaches as well as important differences. As different objectives and scales of biomass assessment studies largely determine the methodologies used, the focus of this analysis will be on categorising methodologies and datasets for different scopes of biomass resource assessments. Additionally, an inventory and analysis of further data sources with the potential to be used in resource assessments will be included. This forms the basis of the development of a harmonised approach and harmonisation measures to be developed in WP5.

In WP5 Harmonisation of Biomass Resource Assessments, elements of a harmonised methodology will be identified based on common methodological discussions, together with the identification and specification of data requirements. Necessary steps and strategies for improving the harmonisation and access to major data sources will be developed. The latest developments of ongoing coordinated R&D will be integrated. The coordinated research of consortium members and associated research groups, projects and networks is expected to contribute significantly to improvements of the methodology.

In WP6 Illustration Cases, elements of the harmonised methodology will be applied in resource assessments of the Pan-European area with a focus on EU-27 accompanied with single resource assessments at the national level to illustrate the feasibility of the developed approach.

The last WP of this sequence will be WP7 Integration, Evaluation and Recommendation, where achievements will be synthesised, summarised and critically reviewed, and where recommendations for future improvements will be identified and prioritised.

There will be an intensive interaction and information flow between the WP2 Dissemination and Networking and all thematic work packages 3 to 7. WPs 3, 4 and 5 will continue until the end of the project in order to periodically update the analysis of the status, methods, available data sets of R&D achievements, and of the harmonised approach and proposed harmonisation measures.