The aim of the WGBFS is to promote sustainable management and utilization of forest resources and ecosystem services in line with the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, the United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests as well as the Paris Agreement, to follow and timely contribute to BEAC activities, to advocate a balanced and coherent view on forests as well as on products and services they provide. Activities of the WGBFS facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing on scientific results and best practices.
Barents Forest Sector
The forest sector is an important part of the economic, social and environmental development in the Barents region. The Working Group on Barents Forest Sector (WGBFS) (previous, The Barents Forest Sector Network, BFSN) is a Working Group under the Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC) established in May 2000.
BFSN meeting in Umeå, June 2018
The scope of the working group is, to follow and timely contribute to initiatives that are related to forests and the forest sector in the Barents region, to share relevant information and, when needed, to launch and implement activities with a view to promoting the priority areas of WGBFS. The key principle of WGBFS is to facilitate collaboration in flexible and cost-efficient manner. Participants are expected to actively be engaged in the work of the WGBFS.
The WGBFS strives to increase the interaction with Barents working groups and strengthen cooperation, when appropriate and relevant to the WGBFS priority areas of cooperation, with other organizations, forums and platforms. By this, the WGBFS aims to find synergies as well as to strengthen the cooperation between regional actors in the member countries. The WGBFS will also contribute to raise the profile of the Barents region forestry at the international level.
Finland hold the chairmanship for both the Barents Euro-Arctic Council and WGBFS for 2021-2023. The chairmanship priorities can be found in this presentation.
Documents
Barents Forest Forum
Barents Forest Forum is a platform for cooperation on forest issues in the Barents region. Barents Forest Forum 2021 covered forest in a circular bioeconomy in the Barents region on the first day - and climate change, forest disturbances and adaptation strategies on the second day of the forum. The 2021 Barents Forest Forum was organized as an online event by the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food, in cooperation with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the county of Västerbotten, Sweden. The Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, NIBIO was assisting in preparations of the event:
See information on previous conferences: