A stakeholder event on forest reproductive material was organized by the EU Horizon 2020 project GenTree and EUFORGEN in collaboration with the Spanish INIA on 14-15 November 2016 in Madrid, Spain. The event gathered around 40 participants and CEPF was represented by Josep Maria Tusell, Spain, Lennart Ackzell, Sweden and Miljenko Županić, Croatia. 

On the first day of the event a number of presentations, including from CEPF, took place on the theme “Genetic considerations around forest reproductive material in Europe”. Not surprisingly, aspects of climate change were at the center of the discussions.

CEPF provided a direct report from the COP22 Climate Meeting in Marrakech and stressed among other things survival issues of regenerated plantstands struggling with increased draught and presumable grassfires as well as early spring warm temperatures which initiate growth season, but are followed by frost temperatures. 

The event was an opportunity to provide the GenTree project and EUFORGEN valuable input from a stakeholder perspective for their further work. The goal of GenTree is to provide the European forestry sector with better knowledge, methods and tools for optimising the management and sustainable use of forest genetic resources in Europe in the context of climate change and continuously evolving demands for forest products and services.

The GenTree project is currently conducting an international survey open to various stakeholders in the forest sector, with the objective is to collect and analyse the knowledge of different stakeholders on aspects related to conservation and sustainable use of forest resources, in particular their genetic (intraspecific) diversity. To take part of the survey, please follow this link.