Achievements in the Workstream “Keeping Forest Europe fit for the future” during the first six months of chairmanship

Johanna From, you are the project manager for this workstream. What key milestones have been reached?

The working group is now fully operational. In late May, we held a workshop addressing two crucial topics. First, how to secure long-term funding for Forest Europe, and second, how to further strengthen Forest Europe’s role as a voluntary, high-level pan-European forest policy process. The dedication shown by working group members has been truly inspiring and the discussions generated many valuable ideas. In a second meeting, the group conducted a SWOT analysis to explore strengths and challenges of one of the financial proposals.

A survey sent to Signatories in early spring also guided us in finding the right focus in the beginning. There was no lack of ideas on how to improve the Forest Europe process. It was very clear that a secured budget is a prerequisite for Signatories to be able to accept a chairmanship. Other topics were i. e.: More cooperation, and improve synergies with research networks and private sector actors. It is about being constantly active in topics that are of high political importance and relevance for Signatories and Observers.

Another milestone was our first meeting with Forest Europe’s Observers in late June. We were encouraged by the strong level of engagement throughout the meeting, which brought many valuable reflections and input that will feed into the workstreams continued work.

Our next milestone will be presenting the group’s work so far at the Expert Level Meeting (ELM) 24-25 September, where we will seek input from delegates to guide the continued process regarding secured funding of Forest Europe onwards.

Over the summer, we will also gather insights from similar international processes to see what models and opportunities might be useful to ensure the stability of Forest Europe also in the future.

What challenges have you encountered?

A positive challenge has been the strong commitment from all working group members. The key now is to shape these discussions into clear proposals for the next steps. We recognise that these are highly complex matters that in some extent have been discussed before, but we are bringing them up again as some of the underlying conditions have changed. All meetings are online. Digital meetings take more time for participants to get to know each other, On the other hand you find clear benefits in terms of saving time and resources.

What are the main objectives for this autumn?

Our immediate focus is the presentation at the ELM in September. We’ll summarize the group’s progress and highlight key questions for further work.

The working group will meet again in mid-September to develop ideas aimed at enhancing Forest Europe’s institutional stability.