The fourth and last meeting of the Working Group took place in Brussels, Belgium on 7 October 2009. 36 delegates from 16 MCPFE signatory countries, the European Commission, 6 observer organisations and the MCPFE Liaison Unit Oslo attended the meeting. The participants discussed the final report from the Working Group. The report provides clear action-oriented recommendations for consideration by the MCPFE signatory countries and observers at the upcoming MCPFE Expert Level Meeting in November 2009.
The Working Group recommends continuing work in order to prepare the technical basis for political consideration and decision concerning a possible legally binding agreement on forests in Europe, to be taken at the next Ministerial Conference. In this context it is suggested to develop a document, which describes in more detail possible elements of a legally binding agreement on forests in Europe, including content, institutional arrangements and levels of commitments.
The findings and recommendations from the Working Group will be discussed and decided upon at the next MCPFE Expert Level Meeting. This important meeting will take place on 24-25 November 2009, in Oslo, Norway.
