This year’s IEFC annual meeting adopted a hybrid format (distance and face-to-face) and was held on 23 June 2022, at the Higher Institute of Agronomy, Lisbon under the chairmanship of Mr Nick McCarthy.
This meeting was the first time in two years that all IEFC members were physically together, which allowed them to visit the premises of two members (ISA where the meeting was held and ALTRI forestal during the field trip). The agenda of this meeting was particularly full as it included the usual items on activity and financial reports, but also the following items:
-Discussions on the new EU Planted Forest Strategy
-Launch of the IEFC Network Fund
-Election of the new members and the new Chair of the IEFC Board
-Presentation of IEFC new visual identity
Presentations and round table
The annual meeting started with a series of presentations on various aspects of forest plantation management (mixed plantations, resin production, carbon storage, risk management, genetic improvement), in the light of the new EU Planted Forest Strategy.
Dr. Barry Gardiner (IEFC), Mr. Armand Clopeau (FCBA), Dr. Hervé Jactel (INRAE), Mr. Koen Kramer (Land Life Company) and Dr. Sven Mutke (CSIC), spoke on this topic.
The meeting continued with a round table discussion moderated by Leire Salaberria (Director of USSE). This was an opportunity to discuss the topic of forest plantations and the future European strategy, which has rather ambivalent positions on forest plantations and clear-cutting. There was a very lively round table discussion, which did not fail to captivate the participants.
General Assembly
In his speech, after presenting the new cooperation fund aimed at financing networking between IEFC members, Mr. Nick McCarthy, opened the General Assembly, talking about the successes, recent developments, and the new strategy of IEFC.
The presentation of the projects and results for the year 2021 by Christophe Orazio, Director of the IEFC, was then followed by Suzanne AFANOU (Communication Officer), who gave an overview of IEFC’s communications activities. She, then, presented IEFC’s new visual identity including the new logo and the new graphic charter of the Institute.
An interactive session was then organised to discuss the expectations of IEFC members regarding the future online resource centre to be developed on the new IEFC website, which will be renamed plantedforests.org for the occasion. This exchange has allowed redefinition of the characteristics of the site in order to promote the transfer of knowledge to the various stakeholders of forest plantations.
Voting results
The General Assembly ended with the election of the new members of the Board of Directors, which was done unanimously and in continuity:
–President: Susana Barreiro (ISA, Portugal)
–Vice-President: Hervé Jactel (INRAE, France)
–Secretary: Ander Arias Gonzalez (NEIKER, Spain)
–Treasurer: Roland de Lary (CNPF, France)
–Other members: Nick McCarthy, (WIT, SETU, Ireland), Leire Salaberria (USSE, Spain), Felipe Bravo (Université de Valladolid, Spain), James Pendlebury (Forest Research, UK), Alain Bailly (FCBA, France), Marc Hanewinkel (University of Fribourg, Germany)
Suzanne AFANOU (IEFC) / Christophe Orazio (IEFC)