European state forest managers meet in Lapland

Metsähallitus will manage the annual conference of the European State Forest Association EUSTAFOR on 11–12 June 2015. The conference to be held in Rovaniemi will be attended by more than a hundred representatives of the top management and experts of the 29 member organisations of EUSTAFOR.
EUSTAFOR’s members represent more than one third of forests and fellings in the EU.

The theme of the two-day European State Forest Conference 2015 will be “The Bioeconomy Grows in Forests”. The speakers of the first day will include Heikki Vappula, Executive Vice President, UPM Biorefining, Olli Rehn, the former European Commissioner for Enlargement, and Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro, and Pekka Kauppi, Professor of Environmental Science and Policy, the University of Helsinki.

The theme will be deepened at one of the three parallel seminars in the afternoon. Niklas von Weymarn, VP, Research Business Development, Metsä Fibre, will speak about the new products and business partnerships of Metsä Group’s new bioproduct mill to be built in Äänekoski. Jyrki Kangas, Professor of Forest Bioeconomy at the University of Eastern Finland, will focus on the impact of bioeconomy on the management and use of forests.

Another parallel seminar in the afternoon will discuss the reputation and conflict management of European state forest organisations. Managing the pressures placed on state-owned lands requires good and efficient communication, whether between the Bavarian State Forest Enterprise (Bayerischen Staatsforsten) and Greenpeace, or to include local stakeholders in decision making in the Finnish Lapland. The third parallel seminar will deal with current European game issues from the point of view of both Central European and Finnish hunting traditions.

In the afternoon, participants interested in customer service and guidance provided by Nature Centres and Science Centres will have an opportunity to visit the Pilke Science Centre and the Visitor Centre Naava by Pyhätunturi Fell. On the second day of the conference, the participants will familiarise themselves with Metsähallitus’ multiple-use forest management and have an opportunity to experience the Finnish early summer wildlife and midnight sun during a whole-day trip.