1. EFICENT Central European Regional Office – EFICENT – Information Event 3rd April 2009 Freiburg Ministerialdirigent Dr. Richard Lammel, Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, Germany

2. International cooperation in forestry in Europe Instruments and Organisations EU funding programmes Forest-Based Sector Technology Platform (FTP) COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) European Forest Institute (EFI) IUFRO

3. Why international cooperation in forestry? For overcoming fragmentation of forest and forestry related research capacity For enhancing integration and networking amongst organisations in forest and forestry related research For addressing European research questions using national and trans-boundary expertise For meeting stakeholders needs at both national and European level

4. Examples of research themes of European relevance in which EFI is/has been active: Sustainability Impact of forestry wood chain EFORWOOD (European Commission Framework Programme 6 project) Biomass Energy Europe – BEE (European Commission Framework Programme 7 project) Growth trends study (results published in 1996) European forest mapping

5. The role of the Central European Regional Office EFICENT and relevance to German Federal Government Contributes to become Central European research topics more visible Stimulates networking and cooperation in Central Europe; international contact point Stimulates to jointly address Central European research topics of importance (e.g. management strategies for adapting to climate change, multifunctionality, bioenergy, wood mobilisation)

6. The German Federal Government is… …supportive towards EFICENT based on the above mentioned …willing to assist EFICENT in identifying options for supporting its work (institutional support) …willing to support EFICENT in the implementation of research activities of supra-national relevance based on a project oriented approach German Federal Governments view on supporting EFICENT

7. The Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection… …supports EFI in putting into place a Host Country agreement in Germany for EFICENT in close cooperation with the EFI Headquarters in Joensuu, Finland