The forest conference
The Minister for Forestry, Céline TellierOn Friday 25 February 2022, the Minister for Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment officially opened the forest conference. This exceptional event, supported by the Minister's office and SPW ARnE (Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment), is not a "one shot" but a long process.
For over a year, anyone with an economic interest in the forest (timber harvesting, wood processing, etc.), a socio-recreational interest (walks, mountain biking, school outings, hunting, etc.) or an environmental interest (naturalists, protecting biodiversity, adapting to climate change, etc.) will be able to have their say on what the Walloon forest of tomorrow will look like.
A first in Wallonia
This is the first time that a forest conference has been organised at Walloon level. Inspired by what is being done in other European countries, the aim of this process is to take stock of a changing forest and to bring seemingly divergent interests to the table: tourism, nature conservation, sport, hunting, timber harvesting, etc.
In order to offer a comprehensive and balanced view of the forest, Minister Tellier was keen to involve her colleagues in charge of hunting and the economy, as well as tourism, Ministers Willy Borsus and Valérie De Bue. A panel of around fifteen speakers (list attached) also discussed the European forest strategy and the themes of "forests and society", "forest owners, between responsibility and passion", "forests and the public", "forests and climate change", "forests and biodiversity" and "forests and the development of wood". The congress ended with young people taking the floor, via a "Plant for the planet" ambassador, to express their vision of the forest of tomorrow.
The phases of the conference after a virtual congress available in replay
The launch via a virtual conference (due to the health crisis) on Friday 25 February 2022, attended by some 300 people via an interactive screen, is the first stage after which phase 2 of consultation with all the players in the forestry-wood industry will begin.
Phase 3 will take place between autumn 2022 and summer 2023. The aim will be to draw up a new Regional Forestry Programme, a strategic policy document setting out the major issues and measures to be taken for "our forest of tomorrow". The latter will come into force as soon as it is adopted and will embody the future Walloon strategy for the forest. While the virtual conference was broadcast live on social networks, it is also available as a replay at Assises de la forêt website. Outside the recording studio, the Minister and the speakers were invited to join the "white room" where they faced a "question buzzer". The answers to the buzzer questions will be available in the "videos" section of the conference website.
The speakers
Virginie Hess
Nature/Environment columnist
Céline TELLIER
Minister for the Environment, Nature, Forestry, Rural Affairs and Animal Welfare
Claudia OLAZÁBAL
Directorate General for the Environment of the European Commission. Head of unit of the Land Use & Management
Nathalie GRANDJEAN
Doctor of Philosophy, research fellow at the FNRS (Université Saint-Louis, Brussels). Lecturer (University of Namur)
Christian MESSIER
Scientific Director of the Institut des Sciences de la Forêt Tempérée (ISFORT) in the Department of Natural Sciences at the UQO (Université du Québec en Outaouais). Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the Université du Québec en Outaouais.
Maxime LÉONET
Mayor of Daverdisse. Director on the Board of the Office Economique Wallon du Bois and the Société Royale Forestière de Belgique asbl.
Valérie DE BUE
Minister for the Civil Service, Information Technology, Administrative Simplification, Family Allowances, Tourism, Heritage and Road Safety.
Michel LEYTEM
Chef d'arrondissement of the Administration de la nature et des forêts (Luxembourg) and President of Pro Silva Luxembourg
Nicolas NEDERLANDT
Director of the Federation of Walloon Nature Parks
Quentin LEROY
Head of forest dieback monitoring at the Observatoire wallon de la Santé des forêts, Département de l'Etude du Milieu Naturel et Agricole - SPW ARNE (DEMNA)
Antoine GEERINCKX
Co-founder of CO2Logic
Daniel VALLAURI
WWF France - Senior Forest Program Manager
Marc-André SELOSSE
Professor at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris and at the universities of Gdansk (Poland) and Kunming (China)
Alain LICOPPE
Coordinator of the Wildlife Unit, Department for the Study of the Natural and Agricultural Environment - SPW ARNE (DEMNA). Guest lecturer at ULiège in charge of the Temperate Species Management Course
Willy BORSUS
Vice-President of Wallonia
Emmanuel DEFAYS
Managing Director of the Office Economique Wallon du Bois
Patrick MOUTSCHEN
Director of Mobic
Mathilde EON
Civic service volunteer at Plant-for-the-Planet
Pascal LAMBERT
General Inspector - Department of Nature and Forests - SPW ARNE (DNF)
Céline Tellier : "Holding a conference means getting together and listening to everyone's experiences. Rethinking forest management inevitably requires each and every one of us to challenge ourselves. Nature is our best ally and the forest must still be able to provide valuable services to future generations. Since I became Minister for Forestry, I have been working to make Wallonia more resilient and better adapted to climate change. The forest is changing, and we need to keep up with it.
The aim is to reconcile different points of view, whether you are a walker, hunter, naturalist, farmer, landowner, mountain biker or horse rider. The leitmotiv of the conference is to develop a shared vision of the forest, while respecting everyone's activities.
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