Second meeting of the MCPFE Working Group on exploring the potential added value of and possible options for a legally binding agreement on forests in the pan-European region

Dear colleagues,

It is a pleasure for me to welcome you to Oslo and to the second meeting of the working group on exploring the potential added value of and possible options for a legally binding agreement on forests in the pan-European region.

The Ministerial Conferences on the Protection of Forests in Europe have been milestones in our work for sustainable forest management. Based on our experiences in Norway, I can say that the commitments made at the ministerial conferences and the follow-up work has significantly influenced the formulation and implementation of national forest policies.

The outcome of the ministerial conferences has made it possible for us to approach our challenges more effectively. The political declarations and concrete actions have made a difference: they have established a solid ground for growth and diversity in today’s forests.

The present cooperation on sustainable forest management in Europe was a result of concerns of the future of our forests that reached outside the forest community. In the late 80’s forests were headlines in most newspapers, not only in forest professional’s magazines. What we have seen in the last few years is a renewed attention on forest, not so much as a concern for the forest itself, but as a part of bigger and more complex issue, human induced climate change.

Climate change is our biggest environmental challenge, and has the potential to inflict damage and negative consequences of unwieldy dimensions for all human society if not tackled fast and effective.

I am convinced that the development within the agricultural and forest sector have the potential to provide significant contributions both in tackling the unavoidable effects of climate change, and to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Forests, with the potential capturing CO2 from the atmosphere, have a unique role to play, and forest management has therefore a dimension that needs to be addressed in forest policy development as well as climate change policy.

I will therefore present a paper for the Parliament in the nearest future, outlining the strategy for an agricultural policy in Norway, focusing at low emission development, safeguarding areas and opportunities for food production throughout the country and utilizing the potential for climate change mitigation represented by the forests.

Forest management will be strongly influenced by climate change policy in the years to come. It is in this situation we must ask ourselves if the present form of cooperation on sustainable forest management in Europe is able to provide what we all aim at - protection of the forests of Europe.

This working group, established by the MCPFE expert level meeting in Oslo one year ago, represents an important work for ensuring that the MCPFE maintains its political relevance. Without anticipating the outcome of this meeting, - or the final report or proposals from the group - I expect that this work together with the review of the MCPFE will give valuable inputs for the future direction of the cooperation on sustainable forest management in Europe. This will enable us to make informed decisions at the next Ministerial Conference. Hopefully this will ensure that commonly agreed principles for sustainable forest management be used as a platform for using forests and forest management for tackling challenges outside the forest sector.

I wish you good luck and a successful meeting.