European Family Forest Owners at the Green Week in Brussels.
Brussels – Biodiversity conservation is an integral part of sustainable forest management. Forests contain the greatest diversity in terms of species, genetic material and ecological processes. Year by year family forest owners - owning more than 60% of European forests - invest in the conservation of flora and fauna habitats to ensure the ecological balance in their forests. “When Private Forest Owners can decide on a self-responsible basis they are much more motivated to invest in biodiversity conservation, as integral part of their livelihood”, said Antti Otsamo from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Finland.

This message was supported by many others during the session on agriculture and forests at the Green Week 2006 “biodiversity is life” in Brussels. Especially people coming from countries where ownership rights are unclear or not respected reported about the lack of self-responsibility and its impact on biodiversity conservation in the management of forests. “A certain level of responsibility in ownership is necessary to preserve forests” stated Dr Vandana Shiva from India, in support of the CEPF core message presented during the session.
Due to the responsible and integrated management of forest owners more than half of the designated Natura 2000 areas can be found in European forests. Besides voluntary commitments for nature conservation family forest owners are also engaged in contractual agreements to support specific conservation needs.
For people who wanted to learn more about European Family Forestry and its engagement in biodiversity conservation, an open invitation was extended to visit the CEPF exhibition stand. There they could also obtain more information about the Forest-based Sector Technology Platform with special attention to two specific research activities: “advancing knowledge on forest ecosystems” and “adapting forestry to climate change”. The engagement in research will help the forest owner to continue in generation bridging engagement in sustainable forest management – and therefore also in biodiversity conservation.
The Confederation of European Forest Owners (CEPF) is the voice of 16 million family forest owners in Europe. It is the only umbrella organization of national forest owner organizations in the European Union and brings forest owners from 23 countries (20 EU) around one table. It represents the interests of family forest owners vis-?-vis the European Union Institutions. Over 60 % of the total forest area in the European Union is owned by families.
CEPF’s main objective is to foster reliable political framework conditions that enable long-term responsible investment in sustainable forest management by family forest owners.