The European Commission's Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development convened, in the end of April, a conference called "Our forests, Our future", to analyse and discuss opportunities and challenges for enhancing the contribution of the forest sector to the main EU priorities.
EURAF’s president, Patrick Worms, attended the meeting and had the chance to talk with the European Agricultural Commissioner Phil Hogan. They planted a lime tree together, as the European Union girds up to massively upscale its tree planting efforts both at home and through development work.
Forests and other wooded land cover about 40% of the European Union territory, and the forest sector provides more than 3.5 million jobs in the EU. The forest value chains are engines of rural growth and generate other benefits to society, including societal benefits for human health, recreation and tourism.