Spain to host 7th Ministerial Conference on the protection of forests in Europe (FOREST EUROPE)

This 7th Conference will follow those previously held in Strasbourg (1990), Helsinki (1993), Lisbon (1998), Vienna (2003), Warsaw (2007) and Oslo (2011). Spain has been joint chair with the Slovak Republic since 2010 and is the headquarters for the Technical Secretariat, which will be relocated to Bratislava (Slovak Republic) after this conference.

The Spanish Minister for Agriculture, Food and Environmental Affairs, Isabel García Tejerina, will open the 7th Ordinary Ministerial Conference on Tuesday, 20 October, and will close the Extraordinary Ministerial Conference in the afternoon of 21 October.

The Ordinary Ministerial Conference on Tuesday will discuss the challenges and opportunities currently facing forests and the forest sector in the pan-European region. The event will be used to present the political statements, decisions and resolutions that the ministers responsible for forestry affairs will agree upon regarding the most topical issues in current forestry affairs and the forest sector, as well as decisions aimed at strengthening the process itself.

The Extraordinary Ministerial Conference on 21 October was specifically scheduled under the so-called "Ministerial Mandate of Oslo for Negotiating a Legally Binding Agreement on Forests in Europe" that was adopted at the previous Ministerial Conference of FOREST EUROPE in Oslo in June 2011. Its goal is to receive and consider the results from the negotiation process aimed at achieving a legally binding agreement on forests.

Media representatives will need to register between 08:00 and 13:30 on Level 0, East Corner, of the North Convention Centre at IFEMA in order to attend the official opening of the conference on 20 October (scheduled for 09:00), as well as the press briefing and group photo with the ministers and delegations.

On 21 October, the media will need to register at the same place and time in order to attend the presentation, adoption and signing of the decision resulting from the conference (scheduled for 17:45), the official close of the Extraordinary Conference at 18:00 and the subsequent group photo session.

FOREST EUROPE

The Ministerial Conferences on the Protection of Forests in Europe (FOREST EUROPE) is the pan-European political process for the sustainable forestry management of forests in Europe, developing common strategies for the 46 Member States and the EU on the sustainable management of forests. Furthermore, 14 countries from outside Europe and 45 international organisations are due to take part in the process as observers.

The process arose from an initiative by France and Finland in 1990 in response to the growing problems of weakening forests due to cross-border atmospheric pollution and has consolidated itself as a benchmark continental process at a ministerial level tackling the main challenges faced by forests and the associated sector.

Between one Ministerial Conference and the next, a process takes place to implement the agreed ministerial decisions, resolutions and declarations and the topics to be discussed at the next conference are prepared, with ongoing work undertaken at various meetings. The ELM (Expert Level Meeting) - formed by experts appointed by the ministers - is the main implementing body for the decisions reached by the ministers and the body that develops the possible decisions or resolutions for the next ministerial conference.

The course of the process is steered by the General Steering Committee (GSC) made up by five countries, currently: Norway, Spain, Slovakia, Germany and Turkey. These countries facilitate the process by steering progress, developing the corresponding political documents and hosting the meetings and the Ministerial Conferences.