Forests as a resource and ecosystem offer countless opportunities and possible applications. Unfortunately, oftentimes many of these are not compatible. Therefore it is particularly important to develop intelligent plans and policies in order to protect the forest as an ecosystem and as a home for numerous animal- and plant-species, while simultaneously being used as a sustainable resource.

Supporting politics in all forest-related aspects

This is the mission of the European Forest Institute (EFI). EFI is an international organization, its headquarters are located in Finland, and there are several more branches located across Europe and even outside of the EU. EFI conducts research regarding all forest-related topics. Additionally, they are collecting the gained pan-European forest knowledge and provide advice and guidance to policy makers.

On March 21 – the international day of the forest – EFI opened a new branch at the UN campus in Bonn. From now on EFI will coordinate international research endeavors regarding European forests in Bonn, and will offer counsel to European forest politics.

Sustainability based in Bonn

With this new addition the city of Bonn can broaden their significance concerning international sustainability-related research. The city provides an ideal local network to the new branch, as it already hosts several important environmental institutes. This includes the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) that is investigating the sustainable use of forests, as well as the Secretariat of the Unites Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) also supports the integration of EFI into the UN-Campus in Bonn. Minister Schmidt underlined the importance of EFI – especially for Germany: “Our sustainable forestry is renowned globally. But in order to reach our global climate objectives, it is essential that the cultivation of our forests is sustainable, and that we increase the application and usage of wood-based products.”

Combining protection and application

The future research focus in Bonn will be the resilience of forests in the context of climate change, while simultaneously still providing humans with its valuable resources and application possibilities. But apart from the stability of forests, another important aspect for the pan-European forestry will be, how the future economic use of the forest can be combined with the protection of animal- and plant diversity. With these questions in mind EFI will also support the recently founded EU network “Integrate” that focuses on the facilitation of knowledge transfer regarding forest- and nature conservation-related research.

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