Poster 38: Creating new perspective for forest biodiversity: participatory platform of the Soignies forest

The part of the Soignies Forest located within the Brussels Capital Region covers 1,657 ha in a heavily urbanised area. In order to fulfill international engagements concerning sustainable forest management, the Brussels Institute for the Management of the Environment has established a management plan of the Soignies Forest. The plan includes the creation of a participatory platform that will bring together all forest users. The Soignies Forest is not only a production forest, but it also has a very important social function (about 750,000 visitors per year) as well as an ecological one (384 plant species, 39 mammal species, 132 bird species). The platform is one of the tools that will help improve the integration of all these functions. The platform is built on the participation of all forest users: walkers, joggers, naturalists, bikers, dog owners, horse-riders, youth organisations, people with reduced mobility and all actors of the wood sector. Meetings will be organised in order to define action plans, awareness campaigns, etc. Themes and orders of priority will be defined by the participants themselves, with particular attention to the needs of the managers of the forests. Each theme will be covered during a four-month period, at the end of which a programme of work will be established. The implementation of proposals will then start immediately. Potential themes include path usage, creation of a mountain-bike track, and of course the preservation of forest biodiversity.