Happy 25th Anniversary, EUFORGEN!
2019 marks an important milestone for the European Forest Genetic Resources Programme – EUFORGEN – 25 years since its establishment – a time to reflect on what has been achieved and to look forward to the future. These 25 years have shown that EUFORGEN has been able to strengthen capacities in member countries to build a strong network and to start implementing a coordinated pan-European strategy on the genetic conservation of forest trees.
Founded as a result of a resolution adopted by the 1st Ministerial Conference of the Forest Europe process, EUFORGEN aims to make the conservation and sustainable use of forest genetic resources an integral part of sustainable forest management. The resolution called for the establishment of a voluntary instrument for cooperation on conservation of genetic diversity of European forests and EUFORGEN became that instrument.
EUFORGEN offers a place for constant dialogue among scientists, policy makers and practitioners to develop strategies and define priorities. It builds capacity in all member countries and beyond. In 2018, the its Secretariat moved under the umbrella of EFI. The head of EFI’s Resilience Programme, Georg Winkel, commented: “For us at EFI, we have already learned a lot from the collaboration with EUFORGEN, which is a fascinating knowledge network on forest genetic resources. EUFORGEN’s ambition to transport scientific knowledge and evidence into policy making is a shared desire in the future that entails big challenges for forest ecosystems and their management.”
For the coming 25 years, EUFORGEN intends to continue to operate as a vehicle to find the best ways to implement forest genetic resources conservation and to link forest genetic researchers and best practices with all stakeholders who care for sustainable forest management.
Read the full article at the EUFORGEN website and if you are on Twitter, keep an eye on #EUFORGEN25.
Photo: Andreas Vitting / AdobeStock
