The president of CEPF Christer Segersteen participated in the Global Forest Leaders Forum on Forests and Climate Change in Washington DC, on 16 and 17 September. The Forum addressed the most challenging forestry and climate change issues facing the international community. The aim of the meeting was to support the upcoming discussion on international negotiations and agreements, in particular the UNFCCC process.

The voice of European family forestry was represented among over 100 leaders and participants from governments, international institutions, the environmental organizations, indigenous peoples’ groups, forest owners’ associations and research agencies who took part in the Washington meeting.
"The European model of sustainable forest management and the achievements of European forestry in it give evidence that ordinary, well managed forests in Europe have a huge potential in combating climate change. This presents a great opportunity for the forest sector", Mr Segersteen stated at the conference.
The participants addressed the immense potential of forests in combating climate change, with a special reference to the contributions of those who depend on the forest and who manage the forest resources on the ground.
Since deforestation and forest degradation produce about 20% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, special consideration was given to the initiative on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD) and to how this should be addressed in any post 2012 climate change arrangement.
The participants focused on a wide range of issues mentioned in the context of the Kyoto protocol; the concept of sustainable forest management, afforestation, reforestation, forest conservation and restoration, wood-based bioenergy production, and the use of legally and sustainably produced wood products as substitutes for emissions-intensive materials. All these should be part of the global strategy to mitigate climate change.
These issues will be discussed at the 14th session of the Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention in Poznan, Poland, in December.
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