First Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU, 1.1.-30.6.2009

Presidency events:

• regular meetings of Working Party on Forestry, Brussels
• Committee on Forestry (COFO) – 26th Session, Rome
• United Nations Forum on Forests – UNFF 8, New York
• meetings of Standing Standing Forestry Committee, Brussels
• Workshop in Support of the EU Forest Action Plan “Taking us out of the Woods” – Communication on Forests and Forestry, 3–5 June 2009, Chrudim. The conclusions of the workshop, which was actively attended by more than 40 representatives from 13 countries, the European Commission, international and national organizations such as IUFRO, FAO, MCPFE, CEPF, were the basis for the Jihlava Declaration approved at the EU Forest Director Generals´ Meeting (see below). Proceedings
• EU Forest Director Generals´ Meeting, 23–25 June 2009, Jihlava One of the outcomes of this meeting was the Jihlava Declaration on Communication on Forests and Forestry adopted by the representatives. The meeting was followed by a press conference. Proceedings

Thanks to the Czech Presidency, forestry communication was a topic of the Standing Forestry Committee meeting in Brussels and led to the establishment of an ad hoc SFC working group (with the active participation of the Czech Republic) for a communication strategy on forests and forestry. The work of this working group resulted in the EU Forest Communication Strategy (2011)