Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE) to Discuss: Energy - Water - Climate - Can Forests Live up to European Societies' Expectations?

The representatives of states and organizations which belong to
Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE)
discuss the expectations that European societies have towards forests.
Participants are going to decide about the framework of the 5th
Ministerial Conference to be convened in Warsaw, on 5-7 November 2007.

The meeting was opened yesterday by Agnieszka Bolesta,
Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of the Environment, who said:
"In recent years the concept of sustainable forest management has
become an essential instrument for improving environmental quality of
human livelihoods, a tool for nature conservation as well as the
overall sustainable development. Today, everybody should be aware of
that forests constitute a multi-dimensional element ensuring
sustainable development of human civilization. I am convinced that the
time has come for the MCPFE to enhance contribution of forests to
quality of life of contemporary European societies and future
generations"

During the meeting, experts from 31 countries and 13 international
organizations discussed the scope of the declaration and two
resolutions concerning interrelation of forests/water and
forest/energy issue. During the press conference in PAP Press Center,
Director of Forest Policy and Forest Information of Austria, Ingwald
Gschwandtl, presented the ministerial declaration as a document which
reflects the vision of forests' future in Europe and will cover the
most important message of the conference. According to Arne Ivar
Sletnes, Senior Adviser of the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and
Food, the first resolution underlines the issues of wood, energy,
biomass, which determine the future political discussions about
forests and limits which climatic changes trigger. The Head of Forest
Planning and Management Area Ministry of Environment of Spain, Dr.
Jose Maria Solano Lopez, stressed the importance of the second
resolution which emphasizes the crucial role of the forest industry.

The documents will determine the main objective of the discussion
on the 5th Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in
Europe. The title of the conference is ,,Forests for quality of life".
Prof. Kazimierz Rykowski, the head of MCPFE steering committee, said
that the title of the meeting reflects the relation between man and
nature and shows values which forests bring into life of a modern
society.

5th Ministerial Conference will take place in Warsaw on 5-7th
November 2007. So far four conferences have taken place in Europe:
Strasbourg 1990, Helsinki 1993, Lisbon 1998, Vienna 2003.