Georange Consortium - NAGREF

 

The Department

The Forest Research Institute (FRI) was founded in 1963 and belongs to the National Agricultural Research Foundation (NAGREF). The NAGREF is the national organism charged by the Greek government to promote the agricultural research in Greece. The FRI is one of the only two institutes in Greece that have as purpose the research in all the disciplines of forestry science. The FRI has a long tradition in conducting research and studies, advising people and government in forestry policy and in producing tree material for afforestations. Further research areas include degradation-desertification of Mediterranean ecosystems, ecology of fires and ecology-mapping of habitats. Nowadays, with 25 researchers and 35 technicians and administrative staff assisted by about the same number of non-permanent persons, the FRI is involved in numerous projects funded by the Greek government, the European Union (COST, FAIR, LIFE, ENV. & CLIMATE), the NATO, bilateral national co-operation and the private sector. The FRI will be involved at the GeoRange project with the Laboratory of Ecology which is conducting fundamental and applied research in ecology and management of Mediterranean ecosystems. It will aim at increasing the experience in using remotely-sensed data at a regional level and to link the results with ecological studies and methodologies (such as resource assessment of ecosystems and habitat mapping) currently developed at the Forest Research Institute. Also, its role as advisor of the forestry policy of the Greek government and regional forestry administration will allow the best possible collaboration with the main end-users of rangelands in Greece.