Anna Jolkkonen (Metsähallitus) started as new EUSTAFOR associate

A new EUSTAFOR associate has started work at the European Forestry House, as Anna Jolkkonen continues the expert exchange program following Ulla Lehtonen from Metsähallitus, Finland.

In February 2026, Anna Jolkkonen transferred for one year to an expert exchange position at EUSTAFOR’s office in Brussels.

Anna, originally from North Karelia, Finland, holds a Master of science in Forestry from the University of Eastern Finland and has worked in Metsähallitus since 2021 as a forest management operations specialist in Lieksa. Before this, Anna worked as a forest specialist at Stora Enso and has also gained experience in various positions at UPM and Metsä Group and during her forestry studies, has spent an exchange semester in Vienna, Austria.

Anna heads to Brussels curious, motivated, and enthusiastic to learn new things and to share knowledge among other international forestry professionals from the perspective of Finnish forest management:

“It’s great to see how political decision‑making that affects us is carried out in practice. I am happy to represent Finnish forest expertise, and it is also interesting to hear about good practices from other countries in promoting sustainable forestry—not forgetting common challenges and how they are solved together,” Anna says, and continues:

“I believe that in this role it is beneficial that I have experience not only from the state forestry sector but also from private forestry. In addition, forests and nature are an essential part of my everyday life through hobbies and forest ownership. This supports a broad approach and perspectives when discussing forest‑related matters.”

“I will also share updates from Brussels on LinkedIn – feel free to add me as a contact even if we haven’t met yet,” Anna says.

EUSTAFOR offers diverse tasks in advocacy

The goal of the expert exchanges is to promote awareness of Finland’s forests, the forest sector, and Metsähallitus’ activities, while at the same time developing both personal and Metsähallitus’ expertise in EU affairs.

In Brussels, Anna will take on diverse tasks related to the management and advocacy of European state forests as part of EUSTAFOR’s expert team. Administratively, during her assignment in Brussels, Anna will be part of the Sustainable Development team in Forestry and will report to the Head of Sustainable Development.

There are constantly various issues in EU decision‑making that affect the forest sector, making it important not only to influence and produce information to support decision‑making, but also to anticipate the impacts of different initiatives on the operating environment.

“One of next year’s hot EU topics is the new bioeconomy strategy and what its implementation will bring. Another important topic is the interpretation of the EU Court of Justice’s ruling on nesting‑season logging, which may have significant implications for forestry operations in late spring and early summer,” says Teemu Seppä, Head of International Affairs at Metsätalous Oy, about key topics to follow next year, and continues:
“At the same time, familiar themes are resurfacing—for example, negotiations about the deforestation regulation took place last year, this year, and will likely continue next year. For these and other initiatives, it is important for us to keep our finger on the pulse, as experience shows that the operating environment can change very quickly.”

EUSTAFOR would like to thank Ulla for the amazing work she has done this year and the expertise and energy that she brought to the office. We hope to see her again soon!