As a result of the VETree project, training material on veteran tree management has become easily and freely accesible, both for training centres and arboricultural professionals. This has led to an increased awareness about the importance and specific management of veteran trees. As defined in the VETree project, there is now an increased number of training possibilities on the subject: now that the project has ended, both partner organisations and others continue organising the VETree basic course or have included veteran tree management in arboricultural and forestry training. In addition translations to additional languages are being produced. Nevertheless, there is no formal recognition of skills and knowledge in veteran tree management. When contracting an arboricultural professional, regardless of any previous training, it is impossible to assess whether he or she has reached the required minimum level of skills and knowledge to complete the assignment. When dealing with invaluable and irreplaceable veteran and ancient trees with high cultural, landscape and ecological values, owners and site managers are reluctant to delegate work to unfamiliar contractors, leading to non-transparent tender procedures and market foreclosure. This project aims at harmonising skills recognition in veteran tree management, which will increase mobility of tree workers across Europe and raise standards in veteran tree care across Europe. This goal will be pursued by defining a common European minimum level of skills and knowledge for arboricultural and forestry professionals and defining a clear and objective certification procedure to test the skills and knowledge level in veteran tree management of arborists and foresters. To optimise the design of the VETcert certification procedure, the project will start with a survey of existing certification and assessment schemes, both within arboriculture and forestry and beyond. The combined network of all project partners allows for an almost complete coverage of certification initiatives on a global, European, national and regional level. Starting from this survey will assure that we include best practices in certification and that we avoid common pitfalls in the setup of a certification scheme.Parallel to the survey of certification schemes, national/regional/informal standards in veteran tree management will be collected and reviewed. For this, we can partially rely on work already done during the VETree project (survey of training material). Based on this input a common European minimum standard in veteran tree management skills and knowledge level will be developed. This will be done at 2 operational levels: a European minimum standard for practicing arborists/foresters and a European minimum standard for consulting arborists/foresters. Since arboriculture and forestry are generally not an 'exact science', different approaches exist to veteran tree management. The wide geographic distribution and diverse background of the partnership, along with thorough testing and extensive feedback loops with all stakeholders, will ensure that different approaches to veteran tree management are taken into account while developing the standards and thus that the project's products will have a wide acceptance.Once the standards have been developed, comparison with existing training material (mainly as a result of the VETree project) will allow the detection of possible gaps. The project will aim to fill key gaps, which we anticipate may largely relate to the need for very practical based training which may be best fulfilled by using visual media such as videos and still photographs, and case studies.Once the common standards have been agreed upon, the VETcert certification and examination procedure will be designed for each operational level (practicing/consulting), as an add-on to existing certification schemes. A key certification scheme to take into account will be the European Tree Worker/European Tree Technician certification, Europe's major arboricultural certification scheme, administered by the European Arboricultural Council (included in the partnership). Additional test case certification schemes will be national certification schemes in the UK, France and Czech Republic, countries where ETW/ETT is not (yet) widespread. This approach and the broad partnership with several key organisations will ensure an easy adoption of the VETCert certification products by the industry (both contracting parties and contractors) and a cost effective, low maintenance but secure future of the project's output. Multiple events, especially during the last project activities, aim at reaching all target groups with a customised message.
BACKGROUND This project picked up where the successful VETree project (2012-1-SE1-LEO0511641) left off. The VETree project was a European-wide project which ran from 2012 to 2014. It involved partners from the UK, Sweden, Belgium, Spain and Romania, and focused on the development of freely available training material in veteran tree management. Two short courses in veteran tree management were produced as well as a number of videos focusing on specific elements of veteran tree management. This led to an increased awareness of the value of veteran trees, but identified that there were no means for individuals to stand out from the crowd of tree work professionals. Thus, procurers of veteran tree services have struggled to identify suitable professional providers. The VETcert project sought to address this problem by developing a new pan-European certification scheme for veteran tree management. PARTNERS VETcert comprised ten partners from seven European countries representing all of the main target groups. These are from Sweden (Pro Natura - training organisation; SAF - practising and consulting arborists, STF - purchasers of services), UK (ATF - training organisation, AA - certification organisation and representing practising and consulting arborists), Belgium (Natuurinvest - training organisation), Spain (AEA- arboricultural association representing arborists), France (CD22 - a municipality representing purchasers of services and wider contact with tree training organisations) , Czech Republic (Safe Trees - consulting arborists and developers of standards in CZ) and the European Arboricultural Coucil (based in Germany) which are the European certifying organisation for European Tree Worker and Technician certifications. OBJECTIVES The project objectives were: • Recognise skills and knowledge in veteran tree management; • Define minimum skills and knowledge at two operational levels: practising and consulting tree work professionals; • Increase the opportunities for tree work professionals across Europe; • Raise standards in veteran tree management across Europe. PROJECT DESCRIPTION, RESULTS AND IMPACT Working with such a wide range of partners brings benefits such as a diversity of backgrounds, knowledge and experience, but it also brings challenges. The first item of work was to research existing certification schemes and establish what could be learnt from them. This fed into the next stage of the project which involved developing a veteran tree standard against which candidates will be assessed at two levels. This went through a thorough process of consultation within the partnership and beyond as well as being quality controlled by an external expert. The standards at two levels - practising and consulting - are available for download on the website www.vetcert.eu, in English, French, German, Spanish, Czech and Swedish. They cover topics ranging from ecology, cultural history, and pruning to safety issues, decay, and planning. Once the standards were set, new training materials were developed to supplement those produced as part of the VETree project to fill the gaps. These materials will ensure that candidates who put themselves forward for certification can meet the necessary standard. One example of the materials is a series of eight films covering the relationships between trees and fungi. The films were created with the help of Professor Lynne Boddy and cover topics such as the hollowing process and mycorrhizae. Three other films were also produced on unconventional pruning techniques, urban veteran trees and pole thinning. These are all freely available to download. A two day advanced course was also developed along with a range of fact sheets and case studies to help self-learning. At the same time, the examination and certification process, a key part of the project, was developed and thoroughly tested both on project partners and willing external "guinea pigs" that gave valuable feedback on the process. All of the examination and certification materials have been translated into SE, CZ, BE, ES, FR. Finally the long term sustainability of the system had to be established. This has been done via an agreement with the EAC, which will be the European managing body for VETcert from its launch on 1st September. Over 670 people have expressed an interest in taking the VETcert Certification within the next three years from a total of 12 countries, over and above the 7 partner countries, including the USA and New Zealand! This indicates the broad dissemination work and impact of the project both within and beyond the project partner countries. Already several organisations have written the VETcert certification as a requirement in their framework agreements i.e. that it needs to be achieved within 12 months. This also indicates that the project has reached both the contracting organisations as well as the end-users.