FOREST EUROPE ROUND TABLE ON TOPICS FOR THE 7 TH MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 4-5 November 2014, Cuenca, Spain

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1 FOREST EUROPE ROUND TABLE ON TOPICS FOR THE 7 TH MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 4-5 November 2014, Cuenca, Spain Minutes The FOREST EUROPE Round Table on Topics for the 7 th Ministerial Conference took place in Cuenca, Spain on 4-5 November It was attended by 69 delegates representing 27 signatory countries and the European Union, 1 country observer, 8 international observer organizations and the Liaison Unit Madrid (LUM). The meeting was co-chaired by Mr. José María Solano, Spain, and Mr. Boris Greguska, Slovak Republic. Opening of the meeting The Spanish authorities from the central, regional and local government Mr. Darío Dolf, First Deputy Major of the Council of the city of Cuenca; Mr. Benjamin Prieto, President of the Provincial Deputation of Cuenca; Ms. María Luisa Soriano, Regional Agricultural Councellor of the Autonomous Community of Castilla y La Mancha; Mr. Carlos Cavanas, Secretary General of the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and environment, opened the meeting by welcoming the participants to Cuenca and wishing them a fruitful day and half of discussion. Adoption of the agenda The co-chair explained that the meeting is merely brain-storming a session and no decisions are expected from the meeting. The agenda was adopted with no amendments. Background information on the latest developments of the FOREST EUROPE work programme and on relevant international processes and meetings. Mr. José María Solano introduced this point of the agenda, which aim was to give an overview on what is currently happening in the international arena, not only at regional but also at global level, which could have impact on forests and related policies in Europe. Representatives from UNFF, UNECE and FAO were invited to provide information on upcoming relevant meetings and the work in progress. Ms. Barbara Tavora-Jainchill from UNFF provided information about the ongoing preparation for the Post 2015 development agenda, including the status of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as the review of the international arrangement on forests which will be tackled at the next UNFF11 that will take place in New York in May Mr. Ingwald Gschwandtl from Austria briefed the participants on the Country Lead Initiative for the preparations of UNFF11 that had taken place the week before in China. Ms. Paola Deda, from the Joint Section of UNECE/FAO, made a presentation providing information about the UNECE/FAO Forest Timber Section on going activities relevant for the pan-european region.

2 Ms. Malgorzata Buszko-Briggs, from the Forestry Department of FAO, made a presentation of the next World Forestry Congress, that will take place in September 2015 in Durban (South Africa), addressing its preparations and possible linkages with the regional level. Before finishing this first point of the agenda the representative from EFI attending the meeting was asked by some countries to briefly give an overview of the work that EFI is carrying out in the region. After these presentations, which can be found at the FOREST EUROPE website ( the chair called the LUM to update the participants on the latest developments of the FOREST EUROPE work programme. Ms. Beatriz Bueno from LUM briefly introduced some of the advancements in the implementation of the FOREST EUROPE work programme since the last ELM (4-5 February, 2014, Valladolid) and reported on the meetings that have taken place up to date. She focused especially on the last one: the Workshop on Valuation of Forest Ecosystem Services that took place in September 2014 in Belgrade, Serbia. Complete information on the meetings is available on the FOREST EUROPE website at this link: The output of these events will be further discussed at the up-coming ELM, to be held during the third week of January Discussion on potential topics to be addressed at the 7 th Ministerial Conference The chair presented a background document with a proposal on topics to be addressed at the 7 th Ministerial Conference. He informed that nobody had sent any written inputs in advance of the meeting. After the Round Table meeting all the proposals will be gathered and serve as a basis for a document prepared by the GCC to be presented to the ELM in January that will finally decide on the final topics for the 7 th Ministerial Conference. Countries thanked the GCC for the document. Some countries pointed out that those topics that are currently on the top of the agenda both at regional and global level had already been tackled somehow by FOREST EUROPE in the past. The need to approach these items from a different perspective in light of recent developments and current needs was highlighted as well as the need to improve communication and the openness to other sectors. Generally the Review of the MCPFE carried out by Sten Nilson and Ewald Rametsteiner in 2009 was considered still valid and a good basis to discuss on the future directions of FOREST EUROPE. It was noted that the Review was not sufficiently analyzed before the Oslo meeting in order to consider the future direction of FE process. The need for an overarching theme for the conference, which could frame all these topics, was underlined. Other topics were raised: the endorsement of a possible set of indicators for monitoring the 2020 Goals and Targets, the valuation of ecosystem services, and the need to improve communication and openness to other sectors and to a broader public. Countries highlighted that the strength of FOREST EUROPE is the political arena of dialogue and decisions at European level. The chair proceeded to tackle topic by topic in the list included in the background paper prepared by the GCC. 2

3 The different format that all these topics could have (declarations, statements, resolutions, decisions, etc.) was discussed. It was stressed the need to focus first on the content that would lead to the format in due time. 1 Updating of the Pan-European set of indicators for Sustainable Forest Management Mr. Francisco Javier Adell from Spain, and Chair of the Round Table Meeting on further development of SFM tools held on 3 November 2014 made a presentation with the outcomes of such meeting. This presentation is available at the FOREST EUROPE website. Countries welcomed the outcomes of the meeting. It was pointed out that the time schedule for the updating process was very ambitious, but there was a general consensus on the need of carrying out this updating process and to get as far as possible aiming to finish it by the Ministerial Conference in the fall There was a discussion on the potential role and status of the updated indicators at the MC. Some participants pointed out that the revised set of Indicators could not be a stand-alone resolution, but should be an annex to a resolution conveying a message on the importance of the tools for SFM developed by FOREST EUROPE. 2 Green jobs and social aspects of SFM Ms. Edurne Lacalle from LUM made a presentation of the outcomes of the Workshop on green economy and social aspects of SFM that took place in Santander (Spain) in April 2014 as part of the FOREST EUROPE work programme, in order to introduce the discussion on this possible future topic. The meeting welcomed the results of the workshop and agreed on the great potential of this topic that could also build bridges with other sectors. The discussion focused on the fact that new approaches have come up such as green economy, green jobs, sustainable growth. Taking into account the current economic situation in Europe, forestry and forest related jobs are important for job creation in rural areas. The need of taking into consideration the work of other organizations in this field was emphasized, especially the UNECE/ILO/FAO Teams of Specialists and the Rovaniemi Action Plan for the Forest Sector in a Green Economy. The importance of avoiding overlapping or parallel work with existing ones was underlined. 3 Protection of forests in a changing environment Mr. Boris Greguska as co-chair of the meeting introduced this topic on the protection of forests in a changing environment. It was pointed out the need of taking into account the previous work of FOREST EUROPE in this topic as well as the need of highlight the added value on a specific area and its political attractiveness. Some countries stated the importance of communicating how through the sustainable forest management the challenge of the protection of forests is achieved; this is an opportunity to highlight the positive impact of sustainable forest management. This topic was pointed out as very relevant due to its capacity to relate to different concepts. It was noted that since 1990 many things have changed in terms of protection, threats that occurred years ago only in certain countries have now different impacts in different and wider regions in Europe, forest fires or desertification were mentioned as examples. Therefore it was stressed the need of different perspectives the one coming from different 3

4 entities already working on protection issues and another related to the possible role of forests in helping other sectors to adapt to a changing environment. In this sense it was stressed the added value of FOREST EUROPE when tackling this kind of topics, as a high level policy dialogue platform in which signatories and observers can contribute with their own ideas and perspectives on these issues. EFI informed the participants about a EFI project being carried on the establishment of a European forest risk facility. 4 Future directions of FOREST EUROPE The co-chair introduced the topic of the future directions of FOREST EUROPE and referred to the Review of the MCPFE elaborated by Sten Nilsson and Ewald Rameststeiner in 2009 which aim at that time was to provide basis for future decisions on the strategic direction of future work of the MCPFE. It turns out that some reflections of the analysis are still valid today but further reflections are needed. Therefore it was generally agreed that this review stated some relevant ideas to take into account in the discussions on the future directions of the FOREST EUROPE process. Some of the participants of the Round Table shared the opinion that, FOREST EUROPE as voluntary process needs to take stock of the work developed over the last 25 years and reinforce its role and future within the current international architecture. While doing so, it should try to avoid duplications and overlapping with other organizations in the region. Some participants pointed out the need for the process to refocus and concentrate on its role as a high level forest policy dialogue platform fostering forest related political initiatives at the pan-european region and focusing its work also in developing and improving tools for sustainable forest management. Participants emphasized the important role of FOREST EUROPE as a high-level political dialogue platform. It was also highlighted the fact that over the last 25 years FOREST EUROPE has served as a guiding process on forest related policies for a lot of countries in the region whose National Forest Programmes have been developed drinking of and taking these resolutions and declarations as sources of inspiration. The need for a more dynamic format for the Ministerial Conferences was mentioned. Some countries also referred to the nature of the process whether its voluntary non-institutional nature should be abandoned and give it a more institutionalized nature. Some countries suggested the need of strengthening the Liaison Unit and maybe make it a permanent secretariat. Other countries pointed out the financial implication that such decision could have to all FOREST EUROPE countries vis a vis the current financial arrangement (GCC countries) and the need on further discuss the different options about it. In this discussion Germany stated that the possibility of asking EFI to take part on the secretariat of the process could be explored, so it could benefit of EFI experience on working at pan- European level. The chair asked EFI to have something prepared for the next ELM. It was suggested to elaborate a track of the achievements of FOREST EUROPE to be used as basis for the discussions on this topic. Generally it was agreed that all future directions of FOREST EUROPE will need a deeper discussion. The co-chair closed this point of the agenda thanking the participants for a fruitful discussion and for providing the needed feedback to further elaborate these topics for the ELM in January. 4

5 Any other issues Mr. José María Solano explained that the minutes of the meeting would be sent as soon as possible, and that the GCC would prepare a proposal on the future topics for the next Ministerial Conference, trying to gather all the inputs received during the Round Table meeting on all the matters discussed. This proposal will be presented to the ELM to be held in January in Spain for its consideration, discussion and approval. Closure of the meeting Mr. Jose María Solano and Mr. Boris Greguska thanked the participants for their active participation and comments made in the discussions and closed the meeting. 5