During the conference day, a session focused on how forest policy works and forest policy experts shared insights on real world examples from Africa, Europe and Latin America. Bas Arts, from Wageningen University and Research, set the scene and discuss on processes behind the development of international forest policies and stakeholders involvement. CEPF Policy Advisor, Hélène Koch, gave an overview on the EU forest-related policies. Ms. Koch presented among others the complex forest-related EU policy puzzle: a chart listing the over 40 EU policies that have an impact on forests or forest management, and therefore also on forest owners in Europe. Other speakers of the session were Susanne Winter from WWF Germany, which highlighted the importance of the new EU law on deforestation, Cecile Ndjebet from African Women’s Network for Community Management of Forests, shared best practices of adequate involvement of women inclusion for sustainable forest management over Africa.
Other topics discussed during the conference were such as Sustainable Forest Management, halting deforestation and restoration, and the contribution of forest finance to their success. The Youth Call to Action and Open Letter on Gender and Forest Education are youth led initiatives presented at the event which highlighted the youth’s contribution to international forest policies.
The workshop topics were selected based on the needs of the students in IFSA network. The sessions focused on enhancing the skills in public speaking, event organization such as conferences, and digitalization in the forest sector.
In the climate negotiation simulation, the participants acted as representatives of governments, business and civil society and had to establish a concrete plan to limit global warming to below 2°C.
The recordings are available on the event’s webpage: https://ifsa.net/yfpd
Source: FOREST EUROPE news on YFPD https://foresteurope.org/youth-forest-policy-days-discussing-the-inclusion-of-youth-in-forest-policymaking/
