COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL The European Union's participation in the 7th FOREST EUROPE Ministerial Conference (Madrid, 20 -21 October 2015)
Date: 2015-09-01
Institutions: Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission
Subjects: Europe, European forestry policy, environmental protection, forest, forest conservation, forestry economics, ministerial meeting, silviculture, sustainable development

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   EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 1.9.2015  COM(2015) 414 final   COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL The European Union's participation in the 7th FOREST EUROPE Ministerial Conference (Madrid, 20 -21 October 2015)  
 
 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL 

The European Union's participation in the 7th FOREST EUROPE Ministerial 
Conference (Madrid, 20 -21 October 2015) 

The 7th FOREST EUROPE Ministerial Conference will be held in Madrid on 20 - 21 October 
2015. More than 40 European States, among them all Member States of the European Union, 
together with the European Union (represented by the European Commission) will attend the 
Conference, which is organised jointly by Spain and Slovakia. 

The  forest  policy  discussion  under  the  Ministerial  Conferences,  renamed  Forest  Europe  in 
2009,  is  an  inter-governmental,  country-led  process  launched  in  1990  with  the  objective  of 
promoting  the  sustainable  management  of  Europe’s  forests.  It  operates  by  voluntary 
commitments  of  its  current  47  signatories.  The  European  Union  has  been  a  party  in  the 
process since its beginning, and, so far, has signed all its resolutions and declarations. 

Since 1990, six FOREST EUROPE Ministerial Conferences (previously known as Ministerial 
Conferences on the Protection of Forests in Europe) have taken place.  

  The first Ministerial Conference, held in December 1990 in Strasbourg, was devoted 

essentially to forest monitoring and protection, and forest research issues. 

  The  second,  held  in  June  1993  in  Helsinki,  mainly  addressed  the  sustainable 
management  of  forests,  conservation  of  biological  diversity  in  forests,  the  forest-
climate relationship and forests in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.  

  At the third, held in June 1998 in Lisbon, the main focus was on the socio-economic 
aspects  of  Europe’s  forestry  sector,  criteria  and  indicators  for  the  sustainable 
management of  forests and the conservation of biological and landscape diversity of 
forests.  

  The fourth, held in April 2003 in Vienna, was principally concerned with integrating 
sustainable forest management into the broader context of sustainable development.  

  The  fifth,  held  in  Warsaw  in  November  2007,  addressed  two  main  themes;  the 

relationship of forests, wood and energy, and forests and water. 

  And  finally  the  most  recent  Ministerial  Conference  was  convened  in  June  2011  in 
Oslo, Norway. Here, Ministers adopted European 2020 Targets for the protection and 
sustainable  management  of  forests,  and  took  a  decision  to  launch  negotiations  on  a 
Legally Binding Agreement on Forests in Europe. 

For these six Conferences the Commission participated on behalf of the European Union and 
signed the final acts alongside the Member States. 
As was the case for the past conferences, the 7th FOREST EUROPE Ministerial Conference is 
a  step  towards  the  implementation  in  Europe’s  forests  of  the  various  commitments  taken  at 
the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development which took place in Rio de 
Janeiro in 1992, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention to Combat 
Desertification  and  the  Framework  Convention  on  Climate  Change,  as  well  as  the 
commitments taken at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg 
in 2002, and at the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF, 2000 to the present). 

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The  7th  FOREST  EUROPE  Ministerial  Conference  in  Madrid  will  address  the  following 
topics: 

- Green economy and social aspects of sustainable forest management; 

- Protection of forests in a changing environment; 

- The future direction of FOREST EUROPE. 

It  is  expected  to  submit  to  the  Ministers  a  general  declaration  and  two  resolutions  relating 
respectively to the first two above-mentioned topics. The proposed declaration and resolutions 
do  not  represent  legally-binding  instruments,  but  establish  political  commitments  by  the 
Conference participants. In addition, it is also expected to submit to the Ministers a 'decision', 
to be adopted by consensus, concerning the future direction of FOREST EUROPE.  

The  relevant  Commission  services  were  actively  involved  in  the  preparatory  phase  of  this 
Conference  for  elaborating  its  non-legally  binding  declaration  and  resolutions.  All  elements 
within the declaration and resolutions are in line with existing policies.  

The European Union´s participation in the Conference is necessary, in view of the following: 

  -  the  Conference  relates  to  the  implementation  at  the  pan-European  level  of  the 
international  commitments  taken,  not  only  by  the  Member  States  but  also  by  the 
European Union; 

  -  as  a  signatory  to  the  Strasbourg,  Helsinki,  Lisbon,  Vienna,  Warsaw  and  Oslo 
resolutions,  the  European  Union  is  directly  involved  in  their  follow-up  and 
implementation; 

  -  with  the  Strasbourg,  Helsinki,  Lisbon,  Vienna  Warsaw  and  Oslo  resolutions  and 
those contemplated for Madrid, the countries of Europe will have set themselves fairly 
detailed  guidelines  on  forest  policy  laying  down  broad  objectives  and  strengthening 
their co-ordination and co-operation in this field. This is consistent with the new EU 
Forest  Strategy1  for  forests  and  the  forest-based  sector,  and  with  the  associated 
Conclusions  from  the  Council2,  and  own-initiative  report  from  the  European 
Parliament3. Both the latter support the EU Forest Strategy's proposal to improve co-
ordination  and  co-operation  in  all  policy  areas  with  relevance  to  the  forest  sector 
between  the  Commission  and  the  Member  States  as  well  as  between  the  Member 
States; 

  -  the  Conference  topics  relate  to  areas  partly  covered  by  Union  forestry  measures, 
notably those related to the Rural Development Regulation4, the Seventh Environment 
Action Programme5, the Horizon 2020 EU Framework Programme for Research and 
Innovation6 as well as with the objectives of EU policies, including rural development; 
technological 
climate;  energy;  environment  and  biodiversity; 
development. 

research  and 

1 COM(2013) 659 final; COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION A new EU Forest Strategy: for forests and 
the forest-based sector 
2 http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/agricult/142685.pdf 
3 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&reference=P8-TA-2015-0109&language=EN 
4 REGULATION (EU) No 1305/2013 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL  
of 17 December 2013 
5DECISION No 1386/2013/EU 
6COM/2011/0808 Horizon 2020 - The Framework Programme for Research and Innovation 

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As a consequence, the Commission will: 

1. 

2. 

Participate, on behalf of the European Union and alongside the Member States, in the 
7th  FOREST  EUROPE  Ministerial  Conference  to  be  held  in  Madrid  on  20, 
21 October 2015. 

Sign the acts stemming from the Conference on behalf of the European Union. The 
Commission’s signature shall not imply any commitment for joint measures falling 
outside the scope of European Union competence. 

ACTS TO BE ADOPTED BY THE 7th FOREST EUROPE MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 

Draft Madrid Declaration "25 years together promoting sustainable forest management in Europe" 

Draft Madrid Resolution 1: "Forest sector in the centre of Green Economy" 

Draft Madrid Resolution 2: "Protection of forests in a changing environment". 

ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS: 

Draft Ministerial Decision on "the future direction of FOREST EUROPE". 

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