Forestry experts look to the future
The European Commission is helping plant the seeds which should help ensure a successful and sustainable future for a group of industries which employ an estimated 3 million Europeans. A Commission-sponsored forum in Strasbourg on September 6 aimed to identify the best way forward for the forest-based industries. This includes both the traditional forestry and wood processing industries and all downstream users of wood based products, such as the packaging, printing and publishing sectors. A total of about 82,000 companies throughout Europe fall into these categories and they have a combined output of around 400 billion euro. As well as representatives of the industries concerned, the meeting has attracted members of the European Parliament and stakeholders from the fields of research, education, training, trade unions and environmental NGOs. Mr Erkki Liikanen, the Commissioner responsible for Enterprise and the information society spelt out the three main goals of the meeting. These were to: - help make Europe the most competitive and dynamic economy in the world; - to identify how industries in the field can make best use of the business opportunities provided by the Internet and e-commerce; - and to ensure that the forestry-based sector makes its full contribution to tackling climate change through the sequestration of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into wood and its products. Mr Liikanen said, 'We see the forum as an important means of consolidating our links with the stakeholders, and a key source of information and analysis on the realities which your businesses must face. Here today we have made a good start in terms of bringing the stakeholders together to start the debate at a high level, and by focusing on topics which are central to the development of the industry - and are also to the forefront of Community objectives - like information technology and the environment.'