In Memoriam

Former Director General of Metsähallitus and one of the founders of EUSTAFOR, Jan Heino, passed away on 28 November 2024 due to illness.

Jan Heino served as Director General of Metsähallitus from 2000 to 2006 and due to this and his background at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Heino understood the importance of European Union and the need for co-operation between state forest organisations. EUSTAFOR was established in 2006 to be the voice of the European state forests within the EU and Heino became its first President. Jan Heino was also an internationally renowned forestry expert. He left Metsähallitus, and EUSTAFOR, to lead the Forestry Department of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) from 2006 to 2010.