Europe's natural heritage is fundamentally shaped by traditional land-use practices and related knowledge that are in drastic decline. Charcoal is one of the most important forest by-products and its burning is considered a cultural heritage of European woodland areas. The recent search for alternative energy sources identified charcoal as an option. However, there is a lack of knowledge on the resilience of this nature-based activity and its short and long-term environmental effects in Central and Eastern Europe.

PAD’s aim is to generate and collaborate in multidisciplinary research initiatives on the heritage, landscape changing effects and current practices of charcoal burning.

Connected cooperations:

Network for forest by-products charcoal, resin, tar, potash

PAD is the Hungarian representative organization of the Network for forest by-products potash, tar, charcoal, resin - CA-22155 - EU-PoTaRCh, with PhD Anna Varga as the leader of the Environmental History Working Group and a member of the Management Committee.

The EU-PoTaRCh COST action connects the past, present and future of key non-timber forest products in Europe, as representatives of traditional forest exploitation heritage. Thescholarly vision is to enlighten the relevance of these products in history, especially their rolein industrialization. The goal is to identify and assess the hitorical aspects of production changes and their social and environmental impacts on sustainable development to draw lessons for the future. The Action supports and engages diverse stakeholders (forestries, cultural and research institutions, NGOs) involved in the education, innovation and promotion of the connected biocultural heritage.