From 21 to 23 July 2026, Vovousa becomes a meeting point for an open three-day participatory workshop dedicated to the forest, the community, and the possibilities of collaborative management of forest ecosystems.
The Forest Commons Lab – Vovousa will be implemented by The High Mountains Co-opin the context of the project “Multifunctional Management of Forest Ecosystems: The Case Study of Vovousa, Northern Pindos National Park”, coordinated by the Society for the Environment and Cultural Heritage, with scientific partners being the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and the Aristotelio University of Thessaloniki.
In the epicenter stands the Vovousa Community Forest as a place of work, knowledge, cultural memory, local economy, and collective responsibility. The forest is part of the village’s history, its everyday life, its production, its identity, and its potential.
The question, then, is not only how we protect the forest. It is also how we can manage it in a way that supports life in the place, respects the limits of the ecosystem, and gives a role to the local community..
The project for the multifunctional management of Vovousa’s forest ecosystem creates an important opportunity: to bring together scientific research, local experience, and the needs of the people who live, work, or are active in the area.
For The High Mountains, this connection is crucial. A forest management plan cannot be only a technical or scientific tool. To have continuity and meaning, it needs to be in dialogue with the community, with forest professionals, with producers, with forest cooperatives, and with the people who know the mountain through their everyday relationship with it.
That is why the Forest Commons Lab was designed as a small but meaningful process of local activation. It includes participatory discussions, experiential field activities, workshops for children and adults, talks on mountain production, and thematic meetings around collaborative models of forest management.
The aim is to open a practical dialogue on what forest management that combines ecosystem protection with local development, cooperation, and participation could mean for Vovousa and the wider area.
Learn more about the three-day programme activities below:
– Μια μικρή άσκηση φαντασίας για τη Βοβούσα
Τρίτη 21 Ιουλίου | 19:00–21:00 | Καφενείο “La Pounti”
Το τριήμερο ξεκινά με μια ανοιχτή συνάντηση με την τοπική κοινότητα.
The meeting is organised as a participatory “ideas café”, where residents, professionals, visitors, young people, and representatives of local organisations will be invited to discuss the future of Vovousa and its relationship with the forest.
The starting point is simple: to imagine Vovousa ten or twenty years from now. What would we like the village to be like? What place will the forest have in its life? Who will be able to live and work here? What activities can support the local economy without degrading the ecosystem? How can local knowledge meet scientific knowledge?
Through this discussion, the forest is approached not as an isolated natural object, but as part of a living place. It is connected to habitation, production, tourism, education, the community, and the prospects for people to stay in or return to mountain villages.
– Εκδρομή στο δάσος “Introduction to mushrooms and wild products”
Τετάρτη 22 Ιουλίου | 10:00–11:30 | Σημείο συνάντησης Καταφύγιο «Βάλια Κάλντα»
Το πρόγραμμα μεταφέρεται στο πεδίο, με μια εκπαιδευτική διαδρομή στο δάσος της Βοβούσας.
The activity is centered on mushrooms, wild products, and their role within the forest ecosystem. Participants will become familiar with basic mushroom species found in the area, other wild forest products, as well as their importance for biodiversity and the functioning of the ecosystem.
Getting to know mushrooms will help us better understand the interdependencies of the forest, the sensitivity of natural cycles, and the need for responsible behaviour in the field.
The activity will focus on the basic principles of safe identification, responsible collection, and respect for the limits of the natural environment. The aim is for participants to develop a more meaningful relationship with the forest, beyond simple recreation or consumption.
– Σεμινάριο τροφοσυλλογής για ενήλικες
Τετάρτη 22 Ιουλίου | 12:00–13:30 | Καταφύγιο «Βάλια Κάλντα»
Στη συνέχεια θα πραγματοποιηθεί σεμινάριο τροφοσυλλογής για ενήλικες.
Foraging is a practice deeply connected to life in mountain villages. It links food with seasonality, local knowledge, observation of nature, and the sustainable use of natural resources. However, it is not an activity without limits. It requires knowledge, care, experience, and respect.
The seminar will focus on the basic principles of proper and safe foraging, the identification of selected wild plants and mushrooms, the risks of incorrect identification, seasonality, collection limits, and the possibilities for their use in local food practices.
Particular emphasis will be placed on the relationship between foraging and the local economy. Wild products can become part of a place’s identity, gastronomy, and gentle forms of sustainable tourism. However, this can only happen if overexploitation and uncritical commercialisation are avoided, as they would put at risk the very ecosystem from which this knowledge comes.
– Παιδικό εργαστήριο «Το δάσος και τα μανιτάρια»
Τετάρτη 22 Ιουλίου | 12:00–13:30| Καταφύγιο «Βάλια Κάλντα»
Παράλληλα με το σεμινάριο ενηλίκων θα πραγματοποιηθεί παιδικό εργαστήριο με τίτλο "The forest and mushrooms".
The workshop is aimed at children and is based on play, observation, and creative expression. Its aim is for children to discover the forest as a living world of relationships and interdependencies.
Through experiential activities, small observation exercises, storytelling, drawing, or nature-based crafts, children will discover what a forest ecosystem is, what role mushrooms play, why biodiversity is important, and how we can observe nature without destroying it.
Environmental education in mountain villages is not a secondary activity. It is part of the continuity of a place. It is the way in which knowledge, care, and the relationship with the environment are passed on to younger generations.
– Ομιλία & συζήτηση «Προϊόντα ορεινής παραγωγής και τοπική ταυτότητα»
Τετάρτη 22 Ιουλίου | 19:00–21:00 | Μουσείο Υδροκίνησης Βοβούσας
The συζήτηση στρέφεται στα προϊόντα ορεινής παραγωγής και στη σύνδεσή τους με την τοπική ταυτότητα.
Η ομιλία – συζήτηση θα παρουσιάσει το ευρωπαϊκό καθεστώς “Mountain Product”, τις δυνατότητες πιστοποίησης προϊόντων ορεινών περιοχών και τις προοπτικές συλλογικής ανάδειξης τοπικών προϊόντων.
Vovousa and the wider Pindus region possess a wealth that extends far beyond the landscape itself. It encompasses knowledge of production, forest products, livestock farming, gastronomy, seasonal practices, stories, memories, and the skills of the people.
The question is how all of these elements can come together to form a shared narrative of place. How can the products of the forest and mountain production be connected to the local economy? How can fragmented promotion be avoided? How can producers, tourism professionals, cooperatives, and local institutions work together?
This discussion connects the environmental dimension of the project with its social and economic dimensions. A living forest requires living communities around it. And a living community needs ways to produce, collaborate, tell the story of its place, and generate income without destroying the foundations of its own existence.
– Συνεργατικά μοντέλα δασικής διαχείρισης
Πέμπτη 23 Ιουλίου | 18:00–20:00 | Τοποθεσία «Καρυδιές»
Η τρίτη ημέρα είναι αφιερωμένη στα συνεργατικά μοντέλα δασικής διαχείρισης.
At the center is the new institutional framework of the law 5106/2024 for the management and exploitation of public forests or management units, as well as the opportunities that open up through the Hybrid Co-operative Models and cooperation with actors in the social and cooperative economy.
The workshop is primarily intended for forest cooperatives, associations, loggers, forestry workers, forest professionals, businesses in the timber sector, local producers, and residents who are concerned about the future of the forest. Its aim is to foster a practical and participatory discussion about what can work in Vovousa and the wider region.
The meeting will provide space for information sharing, clarification of key aspects of the regulatory framework, collection of questions and concerns from the forest cooperatives themselves, exploration of possible cooperative or hybrid organizational models, and the connection of forest management with employment, local development, forest protection, and the strengthening of the community.
The program will be completed in 20:00-21:00, στο Καφενείο “La Pounti”με μια σύντομη συνάντηση ανακεφαλαίωσης.
Participants will be invited to share what they take away from the activities, which ideas they consider most useful, and what possibilities for continuation they see for Vovousa and the Community Forest.
Through this final discussion, the three day event will conclude with an initial collective understanding of what the forest means for Vovousa today and what it could come to mean for its future.
Participation is free of charge!
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Accommodation in Vovousa
For those who wish to participate in the activities and stay overnight in the village, they can contact the following accommodations:
Kerasies Guesthouse | 26560 23003, 6976867042, 6944578669 | kerasies.gr
Valia Calda Refuge | 26560 22200, 6977314779 | katafigiovaliacalda.eu
Sofia Stakogianni Rental Rooms | 6976867042, 6977806297
"To Gefiri" Rental Rooms | 6976518017