EU Forest Strategy: Strengthening forests for biodiversity & climate change

IUCN and EFI have joined forces to present an open, high-level webinar and exchange on the New EU Forest Strategy for 2030. The webinar, organised via the SINCERE project and Integrate Network, will bring together key stakeholders interested in and contributing to the implementation of the Forest Strategy, to reflect on the pathways for action strengthening the important role of forests in achieving Europe’s biodiversity, ecosystem services, and climate change targets.

The webinar creates a space for constructive dialogue and joint reflections on future implementation and collaboration within the framework established by the New EU Forest Strategy for 2030, and in particular its biodiversity and climate change objectives. Participants are invited to reflect on the potential of the Forest Strategy and Biodiversity Strategy to address and advance support for ecosystem services and the integration of biodiversity protection into forest management, to ensure resilience and productive capacity of European forests. Participants are also invited to discuss the need to reward forest owners for the multiple ecosystem services that forests provide, as highlighted by the New Forest Strategy.

By bringing together a diverse range of scientific experts, forest managers, civil society, and policy- and decision-makers from across Europe, the webinar offers the opportunity to explore stakeholder perspectives on the operationalisation of the New Forest Strategy and its implementation at European, national and local scales.

The webinar will address the following questions:

• What is the potential of the New EU Forest Strategy for incentivising forest governance and management for multiple ecosystem services?

• How to strengthen support to forest owners to ensure forest resilience and the provision of ecosystem services in the long-term?

• What is missing, what is good, and what are the key elements and processes to turn the Strategy into action?

• What could be the role of the European Integrate Network in strengthening partnerships for action?

The aims of the webinar are to:

• Facilitate a forward looking dialogue between key stakeholders in the forest, nature and climate change communities;

• Provide a forum to bring together diverse scientific perspectives and policy views on the management of the ecosystem services of European forests;

• Identify opportunities for collaborative action towards implementation of the New EU Forest Strategy.