A successful XXV UEF Governing Council Meeting in Färna, Sweden

Wednesday, September 06 , 2023 2047

The Swedish member of the Union of European Foresters, Sveriges Skogstjänstmannaförening organized a really successfully the XXV UEF Governing Council Meeting in Färna village, Sweden.

All participants arrived on 31 August 2023 and ware warmly welcomed at Färna Herrgård. In the past, Farna was an ironworks village with an impressive history and many fine, old traditions. In the late 1700s, Farna was the country’s largest property and was converted into entailed estate.

The Meeting started on 1^st of September with an international seminar “Is it possible to increase biodiversity in production forest?”

The event was opened by Michael Diemer– President of Union of European Foresters, who underlined the efforts of foresters around Europe to work together to find solutions in such challenging times we lived in nowadays.

The participants were also welcomed by the county governor Johan Sterte, who presented the history of the region and the importance of the forestry and biodiversity for the well-being of the region.

The workshop was moderated by Sven-Erik Hammar, President CEPF who presented his point of view on the topic of the seminar.

Presentations were made Tomas Lundmark, Professor of Silviculture at the Department of Forest Ecology and Management, SLU, Jessica Polfjärd, MEP, European Parliament, Johan Kuylenstierna, Director General at Formas, government research council for sustainable development.

The members’ examples for integration of Biodiversity values in the sylvicultural practices in part of the European countries were presented by Marco Bonavia (Italy), François Clauce (France), Ivan Paligorov (Bulgaria), Arno Fillies (Germany), Ismail Belen (Turkey) and Stefan Borgman (Finland).

During lunch time participants were able to learn about SLU Skinnskatteberg - The School for Forest Management, and after that a presentation about Setra Group´s sawmill in Skinnskatteberg was made.

Back to Farna Manor UEF delegates participated in the Statutory Governing Council Meeting which started at 17.00 h.

The President of UEF Michael Diemer opened the meeting and presented the main activities done during the period since the GCM in Finland. Then Marten Gustafsson, Tomasz Markiewicz, Ilpo Puputti, and Thomas Baschny presented in details the activities of the Presidency on EU level. Anna Petrakieva presented information about communication matters and new members’ activities.

The financial situation including budget 2023 and a budget for 2024 was presented by François-Xavier Nicot the UEF treasurer and adopted by the GCM. Lars Delfs Mortensen – UEF auditor, verified the UEF accounts and presented his report as well.

The presentations made by the members of the Presidency are available at: https://european-foresters.eu/meetings/gcm/97,6.  

After the activity reports of Presidency members, Tomasz Markiewicz presented a draft position paper about inclusion of Forestry into EU competence? - “What is the best instrument to get a more balanced competence within the European Commission?” The document was distributed among union’s members for discussion with the relevant authorities in their countries.

Another important topic in the work of the GCM was the withdrawal of Michael Diemer as President of the Union. He explained to delegates of the meeting that because of personal and professional reasons it is time to fulfil a decision taken two years ago and to hand over his possition to his successor, who should be elected during this meeting by all present delegates.

Following the procedures described in the UEF Statute, a new President and Vise-president were elected.

All delegates of the Meeting unanimously elected Tomasz Markiewicz (Poland) as the new UEF President. His vacant position of vice – president was filled by Hans Jacobs (Germany) supported by all delegates of the meeting.

All UEF members were invited to participate in the following UEF Governing Council Meeting that will take place in Luxembourg in 2024. On behalf of Serge HERMES, President of Association des Forestiers Luxembourgeois Thomas Baschny presented detailed information about the forthcoming meeting in 2024.

The application of EFF  the Professional Union of French Chartered Foresters was also adopted by the delegates in the meeting. This is the second Frensch foresters association that becomes a memeber of the Union of European Foresters.
 

For the last day of the GCM programme, 2^nd September, our Swedish hosts were prepared in professional way a diverse field trip, that enabled the participants to discover the Färna Ekopark, owned by Sveaskog, Sweden´s largest forest owner, with its own management model for increasing natural values and some practical examples how to increase biodiversity in production forest

At the farewell dinner in the evening each delegation had the chance to thank warmly the Swedish organizing team, including Thomas Esbjörnsson, Mårten Gustafsson, Anders Englund, Yvonne Hedman Nordlander, Jonas Gustafsson.

Special thanks were given to the former president of the Union - Michael Diemer, who was member of the UEF Presidency for more than 20 years, and successfully led the union for 12 years.

The UEF Presidency