Pilot forums 2018-2022

The Forest Academy for EU Decision Makers pilot consisted of two events organised jointly by Finland and Sweden, in 2018 and 2022.

The first Forest Academy for EU Decision Makers pilot event took place in November 2018. The participants visited forests and production sites in the Lahti region, in Southern Finland. The programme focused on how forests can contribute to the development of a sustainable circular bioeconomy.

The second pilot event was held in Sweden in June 2022. The programme offered an opportunity to gain insights into how the EU policies, such as those related to climate change, bioeconomy, and the European Green Deal, impact the forest sector and what the future may be like.

The programme consisted of seminar sessions, field excursions, discussions and network building. The participants included decision-makers from various EU institutions, especially the European Parliament and the European Commission, as well as representatives of research and development, business, NGOs, and the media, plus stakeholders with links to the forest and bioeconomy sectors.

The initiative was financed by the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation, and the Finnish Forest Foundation. The events utilised the Forest Academy communication tool created by the Finnish Forest Association.

For acceptance and for the future, we need more dialogue on forests.

Photos of the events in 2018 and 2022: