For more information, please contact Eve Charles.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have announced a second European Forest Week which will be held from 9-13 December 2013, in parallel to Metsä2013 – the joint session of the ECE Timber Committee and the FAO European Forestry Commission – to take place in Rovaniemi, Finland.

The European Forest Week will be celebrated with events in Rovaniemi and throughout Europe. The week will highlight the contribution of forests, forest products and services to a green economy. It will provide a unique communication and outreach opportunity to raise the visibility of the forest sector and the multiple services forests contribute to our daily lives. The European Forest Week will be made of forest related celebrations organized by different public and private organizations throughout Europe.

In-country activities may include: Celebrations of forests at the national and local levels; Specific events by private or public organisations; competitions, exhibits, fairs, school activities; videos and publications.

The organizers encourage wide participation of government officials from forestry and non-forest sectors as well as representatives of international, regional and subregional organizations that deal with forest-related issues in the region, including NGOs, the private sector, schools and academic institutions. Registrations for on-site and in-country activities will be opened soon. Fore more information about Metsä2013, please click here.

Note to editors

At its last session on 15-19 October 2012, the UNECE Timber Committee (TC) endorsed the organization of a second European Forest Week in parallel with 'Metsä2013'. This was done at the suggestion of the joint ECE/FAO Bureaux of the Committee and the Commission to build upon the successes of the 2008 European Forest Week and the International Year of Forests 2011. The UNECE/FAO Forest Communicators Network will take the lead in developing and implementing an advocacy communication plan to increase the visibility of the EFW and the contribution of the forest sector to a green economy.