Braucht der Wald in Europa ein verbindliches Abkommen? | Do forests need a binding agreement at European level?

Abstract

The ministers of the 46 member countries of Forest Europe, as the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE) is now called, will decide at the conference in Oslo in June 2011 whether they would like to convert the existing process into a legally binding forest agreement. Switzerland fundamentally supports the establishment of such an agreement and has participated in the corresponding clarification processes. This contribution presents the developments made up to now, and explains the advantages such an agreement would have for Switzerland and the obstacles that remain to be overcome.