2003 grant Foundation for European Forest Research Forestry activities of international organizations in relation to the needs and expectations of Central and Eastern European countries Miroslav Gecovič research scientist Department of Forest Policy, Economics and Management Forest Research Institute Zvolen, Slovakia visiting researcher at EFI 21 October – 19 December 2003

Why this topic? being a citizen of one of the countries in transition (CITs) allows better understanding of country’s position at the international forestry scene: strengths weaknesses opportunities threats personal experience gained in the field of international cooperation in several positions: head of Institute’s foreign relations department responsibility for organizing of events plenty of important and useful contacts membership in international bodies chairmanship of Joint FAO/ECE Working Party

Aims of the project to explore existing involvement and analyze differences between countries in transition (groups of countries) in selected international forestry activities to provide springboard for further future activities helping to overcome differences to contribute to strengthening of EFI’s and other international organisations’ position among CITs through a deeper knowledge of strong and weak points

Methodology overview what data? (countries, activities) where from? (sources of data) where to store? (data storage) data processing data evaluation (main findings) presentation of results and their availability utilization of results (outcomes, intensions, recommendations)

Which countries? European countries in transition (2004 EU members): Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia New Independent States countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan Other European countries in transition: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro In addition: EU and EFTA countries, some other countries in Europe and outside Europe, international organisations (if applicable)

Data about what? main groups of activities: H3 database and H3 related activities COST Forests and Forest Products actions Fifth Framework Programme (FP5) forestry related projects Sixth Framework programme (FP6) forestry related expressions of interest and seeking partners selected FAO/ECE forestry related activities selected EFI activities

Data collection: data sources ECE/FAO activities: ECE and FAO internet pages ( available lists of participants EFI activities: Internet ( available EFI documents H3 activities: Geneva Timber and Forest Discussion Papers ECE/TIM/DP/28 COST actions: CORDIS database (cost.cordis.lu/src/signatories.cfm) FP5 projects: CORDIS database (dbs.cordis.lu/fep/fp5/fp5_proji_search.html) FP6 expressions of interest: CORDIS database (eoi.cordis.lu/search_form.cfm)

Data storage Excel table: rows – activities (groups of activities) columns – countries (groups of countries) cells – level of participation (No. of participants, organizations) comments – more precise information (names of participants, list of organizations) links – additional documents (detailed description of the action)

Data processing Excel sheets: summaries for groups of activities subtotals and totals emphasised in colour

Main findings differences are notable between these groups (table): EU and EFTA countries 2004 EU members 2007 EU candidates Western Balkan CITs most of NIS countries (with exception of Russia) responsibility in representation: in some CITs at different activities responsibility lays on limited number of representatives projects involvement: differs between groups of CITs, however notable in comparison to EU and EFTA cooperation in projects: regional level national consortia

Results: presentation and availability presentation: Foundation Board EFI staff some of EFI publications different meetings availability: database and supplementary files PowerPoint presentation grafical expression (map)

Outcomes and intensions to help CITs through participation in possible projects: Sixth Framework programme propose COST action INCO project (for non-EU members) possibly other activities

Recommendations stimulate and CITs to participate actively in preparation of international projects (FP6, COST) and become ready to take responsibility for project coordination encourage CITs to become more involved in publication activities at international level (EFI publications) to reach active involvement of participants from CITs into discussions at different international meetings to overcome the gap between politicians and high level decision makers on one side and those responsible for fulfilling the tasks and bringing them into everyday life

Thank you for your attention :-)