The conference was opened by USSE President Bruno Lafon followed by a presentation on reality of forests and forest management in Southern Europe by USSE Director Leire Salaberria. After this, USSE’s partners from Portugal, Galicia, Navarra, Basque Country and New Aquitaine presented the forest reality of their respective regions and gave an account of the challenges forest owners face in forest management as a result of climate change followed.
These presentations was followed by a series of round tables on topics such as sustainable forest management, biodiversity conservation, climate change, innovation and the timber market, among others. CEPF Secretary General Fanny-Pomme Langue participated to a roundtable on how to conserve our forests and their biodiversity and meet the timber needs of the European market.
In the last session of the day and after the presentation of the EU Forest Strategy for 2030 by Marco Onida from the European Commission DG ENVI, a final round table was held with the authorities responsible for forestry matters in the USSE regions, which culminated in the signing of a joint declaration, the Bordeaux Declaration of 29/09/2022.
On the day after the conference, the participants visited forest fire sites in Landiras and Saint-Magne with La Défense des Forêts Contre l’Incendie en Aquitaine (DFCI) where 20 000 ha of forest was burned in the summer 2022. The DFCI gave an overview of the situationin the region which due to intense heat waves and low precipitation is an area with high risk of forest fires. Currently, average number of fires a year in the region is 1530. DFCI focuses on preventing forest fires which includes raising awareness about the high fire risk in the region and “good behaviour”, developing the preparedness to forest fires by mapping water sources, organising equipment and improving infrastructure, and innovating new ways to better to monitor and prevent fires. More information about the DFCI Aquitaine is available here.
More information about the event, including the recording, can be found here.
Field trip
