Tuesday 4 - Wednesday 5 February, 2020; Brussels, Belgium; Charlemagne building
Forests cover approximately 30% of the Earth’s land area, host 80% of its biodiversity; support the livelihoods of around a quarter of the world’s population.
At the EU level, forests cover approximately 42% of the land area. In addition to providing economic and job opportunities to local communities, forests are an irreplaceable biodiversity reservoirs and carbon sinks; they prevent soil erosion; they provide clean water through filtration; they clean the air; they play a central role in risk reduction measures vis-á-vis natural disasters, such as floods, droughts, heatwaves, erosion or landslides; and they support leisure and recreation, essential for human health.
The world’s forests are in serious danger from deforestation and forest degradation, with a forest area of 1.3 million square kilometres lost between 1990 and 2016. Pressures on EU forest ecosystems due to climate change and unsustainable forest management are a reason for concern and are expected to increase in the future, due to increasing demand of timber coming from the bioenergy the bioeconomy sectors, in a context where illegal logging continues to be recorded in a number of Countries. Overall, protecting forests means protecting biodiversity and working for a climate neutral and climate resilient land.
In this context, DG Environment organises an International Conference on Forest for Biodiversity and Climate on 4-5 February 2020 in Brussels.
Simultaneous interpretation will be available in EN, FR, DE, ES, IT, PL, RO.
Tuesday 4 February 202008.30–09.45
Registration 09.45 –10.00
Opening of the Conference
*Frans Timmermans,Executive Vice President for the European Green Deal, European Commission
10.00–10.20 Inspirational speech
*Peter Wohlleben, Forester and Authorof best-seller “The Hidden Life of Trees”
10.20 –11.30
High-level panelon the role of forests for biodiversity and climate
Moderation:Anya Sitaram,Rockhopper Media*Pascal Canfin,Member of the European Parliament,Presidentof ENVI Committee*Mario Šiljeg,State Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Energy, Croatia*TerhiLehtonen, State Secretary, Ministry for the Environment, Finland *Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter, Parliamentary State Secretary, Ministry for the Environment, Germany*Daniel CallejaCrespo,Director-General, Directorate General for the Environment, European Commission*Mauro Petriccione,Director-General, Directorate General forClimate Action, European Commission*María de los Ángeles Benítez Salas,Director-General (acting), Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission
11.30 –13.00
1. Forest vulnerability and adaptation to climate change
What are the problems that forests face and how are these likely to evolve? What are the needs for adaptation action?
Moderation:Yvon Slingenberg,Director International, Mainstreamingand Policy Coordination,Directorate General for Climate Action, European Commission*Michal Wiezik, Member of the European ParliamentENVI Committee *Mireia Mollá Herrera,Regional Minister of Agriculture, Climate Emergency and Green Transition, Valencian Community, Spain*Xavier Morin,Researcher, National Centre for Scientific Research, France*Johan Litsmark,Insurance Product Specialist Agriculture, Länsförsäkringar AB, Sweden*Silvio Schüler, Head of the Department for Forest Growth and Silviculture, Austrian Research Centre for Forests
13.00 –14.30 Lunchbreak
14.30–16.00
2. Protecting and restoring the world’s forests-TheEU responsibility
-What are the possible regulatory and non-regulatory options? How can we best work in partnership with producing countries to reduce pressure on forests?
Moderation:Astrid Schomaker, Director Global Sustainable Development, Directorate General for the Environment, European Commission*Delara Burkhardt, Member of the European Parliamentand Rapporteur for the EP legislative initiative report on deforestation*Sini Eräjää,Greenpeace European Unit, Brussels*Nathalie Lecocq,Director Generalof FEDIOL(EU vegetable oil and proteinmeal industry association) *Felipe GarcíaEcheverri, Colombia’s Ambassador to the EU
16.00–16.30 Coffee break
16.30–18.30
3. Forest management practices and funding that promote high biodiversity-value ecosystems
How can foreststakeholders best respond to biodiversity decline in EU forests? What does sustainable forest management imply in practice?
Moderation:Luc Bas,Director IUCN European Regional Office*Pierre Bascou, Director for direct support, Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission *J?rgen Bo Larsen, Professor emeritus, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark*Eckart Senitza, President ProSilva (Europa)*Reinhardt Neft, President of European State Forest Association (EUSTAFOR)and CEO of the Bavarian State Forests *Hannah Mowat, Campaigns Coordinator, Fern*Hubert de Schorlemer, President, Confederation of European Forest owners (CEPF)
18.30 –18.45Opening of the 'European Forests: European Lives' exhibition, organised in partnership with Fern
18.45 –20.00 Cocktail reception
Wednesday 5 February 2020
08.00 –09.00Registration and welcome coffee
09.00 –10.30
4. Work in partnership with producing countries to protect and restore forests
How can we best work in partnership with producing countries to reduce pressure on forests?
Moderation:Claude Garcia, Senior researcher CIRAD*Carla Montesi, Director Sustainable Growth and Prosperity, Directorate General for International Partnerships, EuropeanCommission*Lee White, Minister of Water, the Seas,theEnvironment, in chargeof Climate Change,Sustainable Development Goals & Land Use Plan,Gabon*Abou Dosso, Ambassador of Côte d’Ivoire to the EU*H?p V? Th?Bích, Chair of the Centre for Sustainable Rural Development Vietnam*David Coleman, Vice-President Public Affairs Europe Mars*Christian Ruck, Facilitator of the Congo Basin Partnership*Thaís Linhares-Juvenal, Team Leader Forest Governance and Economics, FAO
10.30 –11.00 Coffee break
11.00–12.30
5. Equipping the EU with the necessary forest information - Launch of the Forest Information System for Europe (FISE)
-FISE is the first common database on forest information in Europe, covering 39 European countries. Discussion with the potential users and contributors.
Moderation: Mauro Facchini, Head of the EarthObservation Unit, Directorate General Defence Industry and Space, European Commission Key note speech*Hans Bruyninckx, Executive Director, European Environment AgencyPanel discussion*RenéCastro-Salazar, Climate, Biodiversity, Land and Water Department Assistant-Director General, United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)*Gert-Jan Nabuurs, Wageningen Environmental Research, IPCC coordinating lead Author, The Netherlands *Carina H?kansson, CEO Swedish Forests Industries Federation, on behalf of the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI)*Giovanni DeSanti, Director Sustainable Resources, Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission
12.30 –14.00 Lunch break
14.00–15.30
6.Forests as allies for climate changemitigation
Forests are one ofthe solutions to fightingclimate change. Which measures can ensure healthy and resilient forests? Is forest restoration part of this agenda?Moderation:Beatriz Yordi,Director European & International Carbon Markets, Directorate General for Climate Action, European Commission*William Moomaw,Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University and Lead Authorof IPCC Reports, Boston*Jo House, Director of the MastersProgramme in Climate Change Science at Bristol University, Author of IPCC Reports*Hannes Böttcher, Senior Researcher, Oeko-Institut, Berlin*Barbara Promberger, Executive Director, Conservation Carpathia Foundation, Romania*Pierfrancesco Maran, Councilor for Urban Planning, Green and Agriculture,City Council, City of Milan
15.30 –16.00 Coffee break
16.00 –17.30
7. Manage land to prevent forest fires
What are the best prevention methods? The role of the European Expert Group on Forest Fires and its current activities.
Moderation:Humberto Delgado Rosa, Director Natural Capital,Directorate General for the Environment, European Commission*Nacira Boulehouat, Head of Unit Prevention and Disaster Risk Management, Directorate General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), European Commission*Tiago Martins de Oliveira, Director of the Agency for the Integrated Management of Rural Fires (AGIF), Portugal*Cathelijne Stoof, Assistant Professor, Coordinator PyroLife Innovative Training Network, Wageningen University, The Netherlands*Julia Rouet-Leduc, Doctoral Researcher, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research,University of Leipzig*Alessandra Zampieri, Head of Unit Disaster Risk Management, Joint Research Centre(JRC), European Commission
17.30 –18.00 Final remarks
*Virginijus Sinkevičius, Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, European Commission