This network is created as a sectorial and transnational association which will count on the participation of all the value chain’s actors of the European natural resin, from the forest to the market.

In May, the members of the sector of natural resin’s production and transformation from Southwestern Europe met in the Portuguese municipality of Proença-a-Nova to organize the international days “Exploitation of resin: Our forest have a promising future", organised by SustForest Plus project.

The main objective of this meeting was to initiate the process of creation of the European Network of Resin Territories, the RETR, a sectorial and transnational association that will promote a Strategy for European Natural Resin (ERNE) aiming at promoting policies, programs and actions that support the improvement, conservation and valorization of this resource

The Network is open to all the socioeconomic actors of the European natural resin and is composed by forest owners and managers, resin’s workers, industrial actors specialized in first and second resin’s transformation and any stakeholder interested in promoting and supporting the good economic, social and environmental development of the resin’ sector. Those who are interested in taking part can contact SustForest Plus project.  

The statutes of this network will be presented in November, in Lisboa.

ERNE was created aiming at influencing the design and decision-making related to the resin as well as improving the resin workers’ conditions, promoting the forest resources’ protection and preventing forest fires. The members of the network will have the opportunity to count on technical and administrative assistance and professional trainings, to participate to innovative projects to improve their activities’ benefits and efficiency, to exchange knowledge and to use a communication & information system.

One of the objectives of the PRTR will be to present the sector to the European Union's public decision-makers in Brussels in 2021, so that European natural resin can be taken into account in the design of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the European Union's Bio-economy Strategy and the Forest Policy guidelines.

To sum up, This Network will promote the valorization and the use of the resin generated in the European mountains, it will allow the creation of employment and therefore, fixation of the population in the rural environment and, finally, it will promote a mark of origin of the resin of the south of Europe