The theme of the first ministerial roundtable was “Adapting forests to climate change” to which Fanny-Pomme Langue, Secretary General of CEPF participated as a panellist, together with Tomáš Hlásny, Professor of Forest Biology at the Czech Univeristy of Life Sciences in Prague, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director Emeritus of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Eckart Senitza, President of ProSilva Europe. During the panel discussion, Ms Langue stated that when it comes to climate change the only certainty that forest owners have is uncertainty and reminded that forest owners have a toolbox of diverse management options and they must be able to use them flexibly.
Martin Höbarth, presented on behalf of CEPF, Copa-Cogeca and EUSTAFOR the forest owners’ and managers’ statement regarding adaptation of forests to climate change. Mr Höbarth regretted that in today’s policy-making we witness major efforts to promote and consider growing forests exclusively as carbon sinks and storage which is a high-risk strategy and called for the entire forest cycle and the numerous ecological and socio-economic services that forests provide to be considered. To ensure healthy and resilient European forests Mr Höbarth called all pan-European, EU and national forest-related policies, including the new EU Forest Strategy to promote effective technical, scientific and policy cooperation, as well as coherent policy tools and adequate funding for adaptation. Read the full statement.
On the second conference day CEPF President Hubert de Schorlemer gave a statement on behalf of CEPF and Copa-Cogeca on sustainable forest management. European forest owners trust and support the approach to sustainable forest management (SFM) that has been implemented for decades in a dynamic an evolving way, stated Mr de Schorlemer and pointed out that it does not mean remaining static and not facing the existing challenges but it means that forest owners and managers will continue to adapt, learn, and innovate as they work with nature to maintain forests and respond to societal expectations. When it comes to the concept and criteria of SFM the work on to improve and possibly revisit them should continue, he called and asked for forest owners’ views to be taken into account in the future discussions. Read the full statement.
For further information about the conference, visit here and for the conference recordings, here.
