Norway is chairing MCPFE, the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe, which brings together 46 countries and the European Union through the “forest guardian” process to meet the challenges facing the forest sector. This important meeting will take place on 24-25 November 2009.

• Read the whole opening statement by Minister of Agriculture and Food, Lars Peder Brekk

Forests are now more than ever in focus. Europe’s forests provide opportunities which are not currently being used to their full potential. This has to be made more widely known and can enhance climate work.

The MCPFE “forest guardian” process has been an important part of defining and safeguarding sustainable forest management in Europe. In addition, ensuring the sustainability of forests under changing climatic conditions has to be the overall goal of the future work of MCPFE.

At the same time forests’ potential as a renewable resource has to be utilised. Forests deliver important goods and services for society, such as water protection, biological diversity, wood products and bioenergy.

MCPFE is now facing important choices. The Ministerial Conference, which will be held in Norway in 2011, will be a summit in European forest policy. Today’s MCPFE Expert Level Meeting will contribute towards setting the agenda for the upcoming ministerial conference and future forest policy.

“We are going to discuss the lessons learned since MCPFE started in 1990, and plot the future course,” said Brekk. “The work that is carried out now and at the ministerial conference in 2011, will be a milestone in political co-operation on Europe’s forests and the importance of forests for society.”

The XXIII IUFRO World Congress from 23-28 August 2010 in Seoul, Korea, will be a great opportunity for researchers and decision-makers to learn, to share best practices, and to synthesise the newest and most innovative thinking on the forest challenges that affect all of us.

The Congress is hosted by the Korea Forest Research Institute (KFRI) and organised by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) – a non-profit, non-governmental international network of forest scientists, which promotes global cooperation in forest-related research and enhances the understanding of the ecological, economic and social aspects of forests and trees.

Leading professionals and expert scientists in all fields of forestry from all over the world will discuss the latest knowledge on critical forest issues – climate change; biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of forest resources; forest environmental services; and Asia's forests for the future, among them – and how that knowledge can be used to underpin wise and workable decisions for sustainable forest management and sound policy initiatives.

In the months leading up to the Congress, IUFRO will release a series of news stories about some of the issues to be addressed at the Congress and related to the main Congress themes.

The fourth and last meeting of the Working Group took place in Brussels, Belgium on 7 October 2009. 36 delegates from 16 MCPFE signatory countries, the European Commission, 6 observer organisations and the MCPFE Liaison Unit Oslo attended the meeting. The participants discussed the final report from the Working Group. The report provides clear action-oriented recommendations for consideration by the MCPFE signatory countries and observers at the upcoming MCPFE Expert Level Meeting in November 2009.

The Working Group recommends continuing work in order to prepare the technical basis for political consideration and decision concerning a possible legally binding agreement on forests in Europe, to be taken at the next Ministerial Conference. In this context it is suggested to develop a document, which describes in more detail possible elements of a legally binding agreement on forests in Europe, including content, institutional arrangements and levels of commitments.

The findings and recommendations from the Working Group will be discussed and decided upon at the next MCPFE Expert Level Meeting. This important meeting will take place on 24-25 November 2009, in Oslo, Norway.

Read the report

The user-friendly design, enhanced graphics and pictures make the site easy to navigate. New information services for the press, including the newly available press kit are designed to facilitate the work of international media and journalists.

With the new MCPFE information services the international process meets the requirements for communicating its work and great economic, environmental and social importance on the national and international level. “By expanding our communication services and relaunching our website we focus on enhancing the knowledge of professionals in forest related sectors, the media and public about our work, activities, structure and process,” says Kristin Dawes, Head of MCPFE Communications and Public Affairs.

To serve users in different languages the website provides concise information about MCPFE in Spanish, French, German and Russian additionally to the main page in English. With its redesigned press section containing the newly edited press kit, current press releases, newsletter and press release subscription services and a detailed glossary of abbreviations and forest-related terms, the MCPFE is actively enhancing its dialogue with  international journalists and media. In addition and as part of ongoing improvements to the website, the recently implemented MCPFE news feed provides up-to-date news and information.

Read the Press Release

The side event will take place on 23 October 2009 at 1245 - 1415 hours:

“Forests and Water, The challenges of cross-sectoral cooperation”

During the MCPFE workshop on Forests and Water “Sustainable forest management and influences on water resources – Coordinating policies on forests and water “ held in Antalya, Turkey in May 2009, participants identified several obstacles for cooperation between forest and water sectors within and amongst National Governments and at the watershed / river basin level. A lack of communication between scientists and policy makers was also identified as a barrier to effective watershed management.

To promote cooperation between the forest and water sectors, the participants proposed more efforts in communication, capacity building and training of people in the sectors and stakeholder groups. The need to identify the different functions of forests and to develop strategies for different water uses was underlined. National policies and guidelines on forest and water should be developed.  Spatial planning should be the overall umbrella for this development. Participatory processes to solving problems should be encouraged. The participants also proposed to bring forest and water issues more prominently into the climate change discussions and negotiations.

The upcoming Side Event during the World Forestry Congress in Buenos Aires will continue the dialogue for interdisciplinary collaboration of the forests and water sectors, which so far has focused mainly on the European context, through facilitating information exchange across regions. We would like to provide the opportunity for attendees to share problems and/or success stories through case examples of collaboration amongst forest and water sectors. The presentations at the event represent different geographic regions and showcase experiences of forest-water collaboration among different types of stakeholder groups and -partners.

For more information, please have a look at the Calendar of side events at the World Forestry Congress.