EUSTAFOR’s New President and Executive Committee Appointed

Sveaskog’s CEO Per-Olof Wedin has been elected as the new Chairman of EUSTAFOR replacing Georg Erlacher Österreichische Bundesforste AG (Austria). Next to the President, a new Executive Committee composed of representatives from Österreichische Bundesforste AG (Austria), Lesy Ćeské Republiky s.p. (Czech Repubic), Metsähallitus (Finland), Office National des Forêts (France), Bayerische Staatsforsten AöR – Vice-President (Germany), Coillte (Ireland), Lasy Państwowe (Poland) and ROMSILVA (Romania) was appointed.

EUSTAFOR is the association for European state-owned forest management organizations, who manage almost one-third of all forests in Europe, corresponding to around 30 million hectares.

“EUSTAFOR is a key platform from which to pursue, at a European level, issues relating to forests and their sustainable management. Forests are a renewable resource and have an important role to play, particularly in the transformation towards a green bio-based economy,” says Per-Olof Wedin.

EUSTAFOR’s member organisations are based in 21 countries and employ approximately 100,000 people. The purpose of the Association is to highlight the role of forests in the emerging bioeconomy and to provide the EU institutions with information about European state forests, forest management and the potential to develop the significance of forests from a social, environmental and economic perspective.

“Views about forests and forest management differ widely between the countries of the EU. But what EUSTAFOR’s members have in common is that they practice sustainable forest management which develops the multiple values of their forests such as biodiversity, recreation, renewable raw material as well as jobs and prosperity. As a Swedish representative in the role of President of EUSTAFOR I will particularly focus on the significance of forests for Europe’s climate, innovation and employment objectives,” says Per-Olof Wedin.

The appointment of Per-Olof Wedin as President of EUSTAFOR and of the Executive Committee is for 2 years.

Facts about EUSTAFOR:

Established 2006. Members are state forest management organisations from 21 European countries. These organisations manage a total of around 30 million hectares of forest area, including 13 million hectares of protected forests. They harvest nearly 123 million m3 of timber annually. EUSTAFOR’s members employ approximately 100,000 people.