With this second FoRISK webinar on the topic of drought, “Drought Adaptation of Forests in Europe – Practical Strategies,” FOREST EUROPE, in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), continues the journey to delve into measures we might take at regional, national or international level to support Europe’s forests to adapt to drought, to unravel the science behind these recommendations and provide practical guidance on the measures.

Extreme drought event in Central Europe in 2018: Its impact on beech forests and their recovery

The first presentation by Ansgar Kahmen, Professor of Physiological Plant Ecology and Head of the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Basel, Switzerland, focused on the results of his research on the extreme drought in Central Europe in 2018 and its devastating impact on forest trees. In particular, the vulnerability of European beech was discussed, but also whether recovery is possible. First, he explained that 2018 cannot be considered an isolated event, but is part of a trajectory towards a hotter and dryer climate. Six of the nine hottest summers of the past 120 years occurred in the last decade.

Since the 1980s, an increasing evaporative demand in the atmosphere has been observed, accompanied by a progressive decline in tree health. In beech trees, increasing crown damage became visible, which became even more severe after the extreme years of 2003 and 2018. Measurements of hydraulic conductivity in 2018 showed that vascular transport in beech trees was reduced or interrupted by up to 80%, and had been causing canopy decline. The higher susceptibility of beech compared to oak or maple can be explained by the differences in the rooting depth of the tree species: beech has only a shallow rooting system and is the first to run out of water.

But what about recovery? Severe symptoms of canopy defoliation were also present in the following year, in spring 2019, and thereafter. It was found that hydraulic conductivity had not been restored in symptomatic branches and that the amount of intact conducting tissue (or xylem area), directly relates with the foliage area of a branch. Drought is causing partial and irreversible loss of hydraulic conductivity, and without a fully developed canopy, the risk for tree mortality is increasing. He concluded his talk with an appeal to reason that, given the unceasing trend towards a new, warmer climate, we better study the acclimation and adaptation potential to future climate, rather than trying to understand a tree’s recovery potential to a past climate.

How to choose climate-adapted tree species and compositions for future mixed forest stands

The webinar continued with a presentation by Heidi Döbbeler, forest scientist at the Northwest German Forest Research Station (NW-FVA), working in the department of Forest Growth on the development of a decision support tool for hessian forest owners. The project “Maps for climate risk and forest development types as an improved consulting foundation for new challenges for Hessian forest owners” is part of the integrated climate protection plan and funded in collaboration with the state-owned forest and the German Forest Owners Association by the ministry of Hesse in Germany.

In Hesse, a temperature rise from 15.4 to 17.3 °C is expected, which will increase evapotranspiration but also extend the growing season. Accompanied by a decrease in precipitation during summer, this will have a negative impact on the climatic water balance and, thus, on the water available for plants during the growing season. In addition to these regional climatic data, information on soil property is a prerequisite for calculating the site-specific water balance, which is an important indicator of drought stress for trees under future climatic conditions at a given forest site in Hesse.

In a next step, tree species and their potential role in the future were categorized according to their tolerance to drought stress depending on the site water balance. The categories were defined as leading, mixed, accompanying, or excluded tree species. As an example, even if European beech will have problems in Hesse in the future and its distribution will be limited as a result, it will still remain part of the forest. Recommendations for forest development types (FDT) for mixed forests were compiled by intersecting ecograms of leading and mixed tree species. As an example, the oak-beech/hornbeam FDT consists of 80-60 % oak, 20-10 % beech, and 10% accompanying other tree species. 32 FDTs have been defined and include information on management practices, their socio-economic potential and closeness to nature. Every forest owner in Hesse is provided with site-specific recommendations and can freely access the information via a web portal or mobile application. Under the assumption that disturbances have a species or structure-specific effect, facing them by mixed, site-adapted, and structurally rich forests will reduce the susceptibility of forests and instead increase stability and resilience.

Potential of thinning to increase drought tolerance

Following was a presentation by Julia Schwarz, working at the Swiss Federal Research Institute as a researcher for silviculture and climate change and expert in the field of ecology and management of forest ecosystems. She provided insights into whether thinning can offer an adaptation strategy to drought. While long-term adaptation approaches aim at creating structurally and species-rich mixed forests in the future, short- to medium-term adaptation approaches must work with the existing forest stand and thinning might be a way of adaptation to drought stress.

Thinning reduces the amount of trees per area and thereby promotes the growth and vitality of the remaining trees by reducing the competition for natural resources, such as light, water, and nutrients. Thinning regimes may vary in intensity, frequency, by the age of the trees and the type applied (e.g. crown thinning). The short-term impacts at the stand level have been found to range from positive effects on the water balance due to fewer trees and less leaf area, lower evapotranspiration and higher soil moisture to negative effects due to an increased understory growth, increasing solar radiation and higher soil evaporation. At tree level, trees have more space, increased fine root growth with no change in transpiration or increasing transpiration. In medium terms, trees have been found to increase their crowns, their overall root system, the water extraction capacity and their growth rates. At stand level this means that evapotranspiration is reduced after thinning only for a short period of time before it returns to pre-thinning levels.

But can the advantages of thinned stands outweigh the disadvantages of un-thinned stands during drought? What are the effects on tree growth during and after drought? Clear answer: thinning can mitigate drought-induced growth decline and mortality due to higher soil water availability and water extraction capacity during moderate droughts, while trees in denser stands experience drought earlier and more extreme. But during an extreme event where soil water is depleted thinning will have no effect. Thinning effects are highly dependent on drought severity. She concluded her presentation with the recommendation for regular, moderate thinnings that will contribute to mitigating growth decline and mortality during moderate droughts.

Pine and mistletoe– insights from Poland and Switzerland

Concluding the presentations were Andreas Rigling, Professor of Forest Growth at ETH Zurich and the Swiss Federal Research Institute, with his presentation “The impact of mistletoe on Scots pine performance in a dryer future” together with Wojciech Kędziora, assistant professor at the Institute of Forest Sciences at Warsaw University of Life Sciences and his presentation “Problem with mistletoe in Poland.”

Mistletoes are hemiparasitic plants, well known for using the host’s water supply for their own photosynthetic capacity. When growing on a thriving host plant, they can get as old as 30 years. In central Europe Scots pine is a known host tree. In the host tree, the infection causes a reduced growth rate of branches, and with increasing infection numbers, branch diameter, and length, but also needle length and age, have been found to be negatively affected until even crown architecture and assimilation capacity are affected.

But what if a tree’s water balance is put under additional pressure by drought stress? While trees are able to reduce their water loss by closure of their stomata during a drought event, the mistletoes continue to transpire, thereby increasing the tree’s drought stress. With increasing infection numbers, differences in growth are exacerbated, causing defoliation, growth decline and a reduction in carbon assimilation up to 80%, and finally, increasing significantly the risk of tree mortality in combination with drought stress.

On the positive side, mistletoes not only indirectly contribute to reshaping forests in structure and tree species composition in the long term but also directly improve soil nutrient availability due to their nutrient-rich litter.

In Poland, mistletoe has only recently gained higher attention, and only after 2015-18 has it been perceived as a major problem. To assess the extent of the forests, ground-based monitoring programs were started, but were soon found to be greatly underestimating the actual infection numbers on trees. Most of the mistletoes are growing in the middle of the tree, which is not visible from the ground. The observation has been that mistletoes prefer older stands, stands with lower soil fertility, taller trees with sparse crowns, and more likely to appear at forest edges. There is great hope in the use of drones for inventory programs, but really, only a few management options are available. While pruning, thinning, or clear-cutting promise only limited success, long-term strategies will rely on rebuilding the forests with more diverse tree species compositions. Wider discussions between forest owners, forest industry, management, and public society, as well as cross-border communication, are needed.

Cross-border communication and sharing of experiences is going to be the core business of a future FoRISK. This webinar gave an outlook on a future FoRISK in action that promotes cross-border exchange and cooperation. Here, you can find all the presentations shared during the webinar.

The recording of the event can be found here:

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Understanding of the genetics underlying drought adaptation and wise use of forest genetic diversity has unseen power to improve forest stand vitality and guide management decisions to adapt Europe´s forests to climate change. With our new webinar “SPOTLIGHT ON GENETIC DIVERSITY: An unseen ally in adapting forests to drought” FOREST EUROPE together with the European Forest Resources Genetic Resources Programme (EUFORGEN), the EU-funded H2020 project FORGENIUS (FORest GENetic Resources Information and Services for End-USers) and EFI did focus on both the potential and limits of genetic adaptation of forest tree stands to drought, presenting on the latest science and how it can support management strategies and policies at regional, national and international level to foster adaptation to drought in European forests.

The first presentation by Maurizio Mencuccini, ICREA Research Professor at the Ecological and Forestry Applications Research Centre – CREAF (Barcelona, Spain) and Honorary Professor of Forest Science at the University of Edinburgh (UK) provided insights into the impacts of climate change on the physiology of trees and forests and illustrated “What happens to trees during and after drought?”. He started by explaining the impact of climate change on European forests: the long-term trend of hotter, more severe droughts and the probability of very long mega-droughts is increasing. While this is the general expectation for European forests, he reminded that no two droughts are the same; they differ in intensity and duration and vary for each location and so will the responses of the trees and the reasons by which trees can die. Severe droughts, especially if they occur repeatedly may lead to permanent damage causing tree mortality. The traits and their variation in tree species that decide on a tree’s vulnerability to mortality are under investigation; hydraulic systems in trees allow also to transport water from the roots to the shoots during drought; however, hydraulic safety defines the level of resistance, how long a tree continues to do so, and varies greatly in trees. This is why some species die of drought because of either thirst (desiccation) or hunger (running out of sugars). The efficiency and the safety of the tree hydraulic system are among the most important traits controlling how fast a tree can die of drought.

The webinar continued with a joint presentation by Delphine Grivet and Aida Solé-Medina, both researchers at the Institute of Forest Sciences (ICIFOR), INIA-CSIC, Madrid, Spain, taking us on a journey investigating the genetic diversity among and within tree species and unravelling the genetic basis of such variation (presentation: Genetic bases of drought response in Mediterranean pines: why variation among populations and individuals matter?. Since trees are long-lived and sessile organisms, tree species need to ensure their survival and adapt to environmental changes either via changes in the phenotype (phenotypic plasticity) or through intra-specific genetic variability. Looking at stone pine (Pinus pinea) and Mediterranean pine (Pinus pinaster) differences in trees adaptation strategies can be observed, the former showing greater phenotypic variability, the latter higher intra-specific variability when adapting to the local climate. In a next step it is important to find a way to identify the basis of the genetic variation enabling climate change adaptation. Here, the identification of molecular markers, genes that are e.g. involved in heat stress tolerance, and associating the genotype with a specific phenotype (e.g. higher survival) will not only help disentangle the phenotypic and genetic responses of forest populations, but could also lead to predictions of future species distributions or guide restoration programmes. Another way to understand the response of forest tree populations is by use of common garden experiments, e.g. planting trees from different tree populations in the same environment and observe the variations occurring. Populations from drier climates tend to grow slower and invest more in the belowground biomass for drought survival. Conserving and supporting intraspecific genetic diversity is crucial for forest management as it enhances the potential of the species to adapt to new environmental conditions imposed by climate change, there may very well be pre-adapted specimen to future or yet unknown conditions.

Following was a presentation by Stéphane Maury, Professor of Plant Physiology and Epigenetics at the University of Orléans in France and a driving force in understanding the evolutionary and functional impact of epigenetic variation in forest trees. He focused on the topic Epigenetics: what’s in it for tree adaptation?.

Epigenetic mechanisms facilitate rapid phenotypic modifications in response to environmental changes without altering the DNA sequence and poses a way for forest trees to adapt quickly to local environmental changes even during their long life-cycles. Surprisingly, epigenetic variability that allows acclimation or tolerance of stress has remained largely unstudied in forest trees. Stéphane Maury developed a new epigenetic axis on poplar, the genetic model tree, deciphering phenotypic plasticity and adaptation in response to water deficit in forest trees. He explained that when studying clonal propagation material of trees generated either under cold or warm growing conditions, the saplings will memorize the treatment even after plantation and this effect, called epigenetic memory, will continue to control their phenology and planting material could be planted according to this imprinting.

Concluding the presentations, Iskender Demirtas from the General Directorate of Combating Desertification and Erosion in Türkiye offered a vision of the ongoing genetic research carried out in Türkiye Increasing climate change emphasizes the importance of species adapted especially to arid conditions. Research studies focused on species with the ability to adapt to the arid and semi-arid conditions in forest areas in Türkiye. Research was carried out on pear and hawthorn tree species between 2018 and 2022. Throughout these two studies, wild pear genotype samples were collected from 96 different points of Turkey and hawthorn genotype samples were collected from 94 different points of Türkiye, depending on certain criteria, and were examined in the laboratory and nursery conditions. As a result of the two research studies in question, the possibilities of using tree species genotypes in afforestation and rehabilitation studies in arid-semi-arid areas were tried to be determined. Similar studies are ongoing with poplar.

The webinar was closed with a panel discussion and questions by the audience. You can see the recording of this webinar here:

We will continue with the important work providing insights into drought stress and offering practical strategies for adapting forests in Europe to droughts. Join our second webinar on May 17^th, 2024.

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Relevant topics we will cover in this second webinar on the topic of drought stress are:

• Look at the extreme drought event in 2018 in Central-Europe and its devastating impact on beech forests and discuss about recovery from drought stress.
• Secondly, introduce a decision support tool used in Germany for providing forest owners with science-based choices for future mixed forest stands.
• Look at the positive effects thinnings have on drought tolerance of forests, minimizing vulnerability to drought of existing forests in the short term.
• Talk about pine and mistletoe, the latest scientific insights on the parasitic relationship, and measures taken by forest management in Switzerland and Poland.

This webinar is open to everyone interested and is part of the FOREST EUROPE’s “From the roots to the canopy” series, this time organized in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, and Landscape Research (WSL).

See the agenda here.

Register here and participate!

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This year, the International Day of Forests (IDF) theme is ‘Forests and Innovation.’ In alignment with this theme, FOREST EUROPE organized a webinar on 14 March 2024 to commemorate the day. The IDF, which is celebrated annually on 21 March, celebrates and raises awareness of the importance of all types of forests. More than 110 participants joined our webinar, which aimed to highlight the importance of innovation by showcasing existing innovative practices and exploring ways of addressing the topic at the policy level.

Representatives of networks, including the Forest-based Sector Technology Platform (FTP), WoodPoP, and Future Forest Initiative (FFI), as well as start-ups like Breeze Technologies and Forest Mapping Management, provided insights from the practical perspective. They highlighted the uniqueness of their work ranging from their mission, roles, business models for forest owners and other stakeholders, and the integration of technology to address challenges such as wildfire detection and forest mapping processes. Speakers from Austria and Spain shared knowledge about their countries’ innovation ecosystems, contributing to a deeper understanding of the existing policies and the innovation-friendly environment they create. Structures and strategies directed towards foresters and government are necessary for the achievement of smooth dynamics between practice and policy.

In addition, participants had the opportunity to network with other start-ups and networks in the ‘Room for Innovation’ session, comprising of 4 breakout rooms: EFI Bioregions Facility, Firepoctep+ project, Lykaia and Forest.io. See here all the presentations.

Some of the key messages from the speakers on how to promote innovation in the forest sector included the importance of aligning priorities, coordinating policies, fostering cross-sectoral collaboration, creating enabling environments, including funding opportunities and other support services, and integrating policy, science, and practice at all levels. Embracing digital skills and fostering cooperation and co-creation were also emphasized.

Watch here the recorded webinar

The next webinar from the “From the Roots to the Canopy” series will be Spotlight on Forest Genetics: An Unseen Ally in Adapting Forests to Drought on 15 April 2024, 10:00-12:00 CEST, in collaboration with FORGENIUS and EUFORGEN. Mark your calendars and watch the webinar live on youtube.com/foresteurope/live

The post The roots of innovation – setting the course for innovation and sustainable growth in the forest sector first appeared on FOREST EUROPE.

The FoRISK pilot was running from September 2022 to December 2023 with a focus on three specific forest damage agents (wildfires, spruce bark beetle, and windstorms) based on the selection of FOREST EUROPE’s signatories and observers. Tools for optimized cross-border information and knowledge exchange and capacity building, public communication, and recommendations for practitioners and policymakers were developed and tested during this period. The evaluation report investigated on the feasibility, usefulness, impact, effectiveness, and efficiency of the FoRISK pilot and its output.

This report is the final milestone of the FoRISK pilot and will help us promote the full-scale launch of FoRISK at the Ministerial Conference in October 2024.

For the full report, click here.

The post FOREST EUROPE’s FoRISK ready to launch? first appeared on FOREST EUROPE.

On November 9, government representatives and practitioners from all over Europe came together in Berlin for the second FOREST EUROPE High-Level Talks to address one question: How can sustainable forest management help make Europe’s forests more resilient to the consequences of climate change?

For those who don’t know, FOREST EUROPE is a pan-European forest policy process at the ministerial level in which guidelines, criteria, and indicators of sustainable forest management are developed. And we had the opportunity to be the youth representatives.

What have we seen? What are the bullet points we, the Youth, take from this day full of panel discussions? This is our perspective on the topic of „growing healthier forests“ and the efforts the government representatives make in their countries.

The high-level meeting focused on the consequences of the climate crisis in European forests. In his welcoming speech, the Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, Cem Özdemir, called for knowledge and forces to be pooled in Europe in order to make greater use of them for our forests, which are severely affected by the climate crisis:

“Our forests are important comrades-in-arms in the fight against the climate crisis and its consequences. Our forests do not end at national borders. Protecting our forests and adapting them to the climate crisis is, therefore, a pan-European challenge. We can only overcome it together.”

As we should know, it is not easy to develop a Europe-wide forest policy. Forests in Europe are very diverse in terms of their tree species composition, climatic conditions and the extent of changes caused by climate change, and social relationships to forests are also very diverse.

Accordingly, Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) does not necessarily equal resilient forest management everywhere, as stated by the professor of ecosystem dynamics and forest management at the Technical University of Munich, Rupert Seidl. It needs deliberate considerations and time frames to enhance a process of resilience. The director of the Icelandic Forest Service, Þröstur Eysteinsson, hits the nail on the head: “there is no „one fits all“-solution.”

So why is it still important to talk to each other? In times of fast-changing environmental and climatic conditions, nobody knows how to act for the best. The rule „local is best“ loses its validity, and we need forest experts to be more open-minded to interlinked knowledge from everywhere in the world.

Since the climatic conditions are changing faster than ever, different problems occur, but in many cases other nations have faced these problems already. With collaboration and constructive scientific dialogue, we can profit from problems other nations have faced and work together. One good core concern is, therefore, to build and establish a European platform to pool expertise and research findings on protecting forests from the climate crisis. The planned “Forest Risk Facility” (FoRISK Facility) is intended to be a permanent facility for partners and initiatives to receive assistance for preventing risks, coping with risks, and adapting forests. Shared knowledge is the best knowledge.

The HLPD was very professionally organized. As the youth representatives, we did not have much delegation experience beforehand, so it was a pleasure to get the opportunity here. The Moderator, Jo O’Hara, did a fantastic job and led in an emotional and empathic way through the day.  The content of the panelists was substantial and eloquent, which is important for the broader FOREST EUROPE process.

On the second day, we did an excursion in the Grunewald, which was beautiful in the autumn-shaped colorful forest around Berlin. It was also a great opportunity to get to know each other better and to dive deeper into certain topics in smaller groups.

What we missed a bit during the conversations is a bigger emphasis on how important it is to gather ideas for increasing the acceptance of SFM by society. Social acceptance and participatory processes in forestry activities are the root of every forest strategy that is overseen most of the time. In recent times, when many forests look devastated, it is more important to legitimize the expertise of foresters and to make it visible to everyone that foresters act scientifically and to the best of their knowledge and belief.

A lot of this issue relies on our own acts: Foresters need to be more open-minded to other interest groups and sectors in society. Regarding international collaboration, we need to set the same prerequisites for all signatory states and implement an effective and fruitful exchange. Then, we can set a good example of an efficient and action-oriented policy that gets adapted within the FOREST EUROPE process.

Check here the interviews with the Secretary General of the Confederation of European Forest Owners (CEPF), Fanny-Pomme Langue, and the Communications Manager of the International Union of Forest-Research Organizations (IUFRO), José Bolaños.

The post IFSA reports on the High-Level Policy Dialogue: Forests do not end at national borders – how can united knowledge help Europe’s forests? first appeared on FOREST EUROPE.

FOREST EUROPE is organizing on 14 March 2024 webinar, “The roots of innovation – setting the course for innovation and sustainable growth in the forest sector.” This will be in the run-up to the International Day of Forests 2024, whose theme is ‘Forests and Innovation.’ The webinar is specifically for you if you are a member of the FOREST EUROPE signatories, observer organizations and countries, private sector, industry, students, research organizations, or just an interested person in innovation.

Join us as we engage with policymakers, practitioners, and start-ups to tackle different aspects of innovations with the goal of raising awareness around the topic and giving visibility to the innovations in the sector as we address policy gaps.

One more reason why you don’t have to miss: Start-ups involved in forest-related innovation will have an open space where they will present their initiatives in an open coffee style and interact with the audience.

Please register here!

Get more info about the webinar’s programme!

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The initiative enabled signatories, observers, and international and Ukrainian experts to join their efforts about the support necessary for the recovery of Ukrainian forests through a series of workshops (see the picture below about the fire management one). The experts were able to present their own projects and initiatives and discuss possible support necessary in the country. These exchanges further stimulate the work of the partners and the FOREST EUROPE Secretariat in proposing a list of policy recommendations.

The final report published by the Liaison Unit Bonn today is the result of a review, based on official information, done by the main author Liubov Poliakova, supported by Silvia Abruscato, Santiago Alarcon, and the entire FOREST EUROPE Liaison Unit Bonn team. This successful work involved the consultation of several experts in the field, as well as signatories and observers of the FOREST EUROPE process.

Read, download, and share the report here!

The post Towards a sustainable recovery: Insights from Ukraine’s forests first appeared on FOREST EUROPE.

Hotel Steigenberger in Dresden, where the ELM was held.

Rapid Response Mechanism: supporting the Ukrainian forest sector and its forests

The ELM acknowledged the full implementation of the Ministerial Decision to support the Ukrainian forest sector and its forests from August 2022, which was created within FOREST EUROPE’s rapid response mechanism to react to emerging issues of relevance. The ELM recognized the importance of Ukraine’s forests and the challenges they face due to the war and demonstrated a strong commitment to helping the country in recovering. ELM’s delegates also agreed to a smooth transfer of the work to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to ensure continued support and cooperation in the region.

Silvia Abruscato introducing the High-Level Policy Dialogue 2023.

The 2^nd High-Level Policy Dialogue on Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) and resilience

The ELM delegates supported the organization of the 2^nd High-Level Policy Dialogue (HLPD), which will be held in Berlin on November 9, 2023, providing a platform for policymakers, experts, practitioners, forest owners, students, researchers, and interested stakeholders to discuss how SFM can maintain and enhance forest resilience, from an environmental, social, and economic perspective. With a hybrid meeting format, the event aims to harness high-level speakers’ collective knowledge and experience to chart a path to a more sustainable future. Stay tuned to our social media for updates, or visit talks.foresteurope.org.

Slovakia, Sweden, and Switzerland were very active in the discussions.

Think Tank on the dynamic concept of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM)

The presentation of the ongoing efforts of the Think Tank about SFM highlighted the need to address gaps in current policy developments and emphasized the importance of developing tools and instruments to enhance SFM. The ELM recognized its relevance as a core activity of FOREST EUROPE. Additionally, forest monitoring was emphasized as a synergistic approach, and the importance of creating new narratives on SFM as a dynamic concept was underscored. The delegates’ opinion reinforces the significance of these efforts and sets the stage for future progress in SFM, monitoring, and reporting.

Yana Vikhtiuk (UA) and Tomasz Markiewicz (PL).

Preparations for the 9th Ministerial Conference in 2024

The meeting concluded with discussions on the preparations for the upcoming 9th Ministerial Conference (9MC), scheduled for October 1-2, 2024, near Bonn, Germany. As a significant event during the FOREST EUROPE signatory’s term, the conference represents the decision-making body of the process and marks the end of the German chairmanship. Ministers of signatory countries, renowned experts, and high-level representatives from observers’ organizations from the pan-European region will convene to discuss strategies and actions shaping the future of our forests. One key goal is to make the SFM concept fit for the future and to establish a Forest Risk Facility (FoRISK), to address forest risks, like climate change, forest fires, and biodiversity loss.

Green Jobs and Forest Education developments

The report on Green Jobs and Forest Education emphasized involving future generations and addressing challenges in shaping innovative pathways. Engaging policymakers is crucial in finding collaborative solutions to these challenges. The benefits and shortage of skilled personnel associated with Green Jobs and Forest Education were acknowledged, and the ELM offered guidance for future efforts in green job development and forest education.

Field trip on the second day after the conference

After being in a meeting room, an exciting field excursion took place to delve into the practical application of SFM in the State forests of Saxony, followed by a visit to the esteemed Campus Tharandt, one of the oldest forestry educational institutions worldwide, established in 1811.

Excursion to the Tharandt forest.

What have we learned?

It is important to maintain the momentum and build on the results of this meeting. Collaborative efforts, sound policy frameworks, and proactive measures are critical to achieving the vision of SFM for the benefit of current and future generations. The ELM demonstrated what can be achieved when nations, international organizations, and NGOs join in their pursuit of a more sustainable future.

Chris Quine (UK) and Helga Pülzl (EFI).

The post Signatories and observers of FOREST EUROPE met in Dresden to shape the future of sustainable forest management first appeared on FOREST EUROPE.

Our team will update you on LUBo’s work since the last workshop in December 2022, providing an overview of the changes in the current situation in the Ukrainian forests and forest sector and the support available. We will also present the FOREST EUROPE Ukraine initiative report structure shortly, and we will introduce in more detail war-related effects on nature conservation in Ukrainian forests with the support of external experts. We will finally have space for discussion and exchanges on the recent development from your side as active partners in this initiative.  

We will provide you with more information after the event.

Best Regards 

The FOREST EUROPE Secretariat (LUBo) team   

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