Forests in the spotlight

In Autumn 2015, two major events for the forest sector took place: The World Forestry Congress in Durban, South Africa and the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe. Both these event led to the synthesis of significant forest policy documents. More information on the two events you can find here here [in Greek ].

Conservation and restoration of forests, as well as other ecosystems, is continuously gathering more attention at a global level. This trend was made official in the Paris Conference (COP21), which recognized the contribution of forests in the mitigation of climate change. Synoptic facts can be found in the FAO newsletter, whereas FERN offers a little more detail. It is worth mentioning, that, in contrast to the past, the debate and decisions about conserving and expanding forests are connected to the conservation of biodiversity. The connection of biodiversity conservation to the actions of climate change adaptation and mitigation are of particular interest to Greece, which, despite its small area, shows a relatively high forest cover and a significant diversity of forest types and species. By exploiting this wealth, the country can constitute a source of information and expertise on the management and conservation of natural forest ecosystems and silvopastoral landscapes. ForestLife project is expected to capitalize on this knowledge and contribute towards its systematization.