Luxembourg Forester Association AFL hosted the XXVI UEF Governing Council Meeting from 19 to 22 of September 2024.

Thursday, September 26 , 2024 807

The UEF Member Luxembourg Forester Association (AFL) hosted the XXVI UEF Governing Council Meeting from 19 to 22 of September 2024.

For the first time in the UEF history, UEF members gathered for their annual meeting in Luxembourg. Our hosts welcomed the participants coming from 13 European countries with nice autumn weather, beautiful nature and rich history.

The prepared program was very interesting and rich of diverse activities.

After the welcoming of the participants, the hosts offered a nice icebreaking activity that give a chance to the early arrivals to deep in the history and atmosphere of the new and old Luxembourg. Led by a professional guide participants learned a lot about the interesting history of the country and the main events that brought the country to the present high-level standard.

The official program started on 19 of September with an International Seminar dedicated to the “Biodiversity conservation and forest management in the context of the global climate change – a look at Luxembourg”.

Serge HERMES the President of the Luxembourg Forester Association opened the Conference and welcomed the participants of the XXVI UEF Governing Council Meeting 2024.

In his speech, he recalled that LFA was founded in 1974 with the aim to ensure that interests of forest rangers were supported more broadly, to represent a unified opinion to their employer and to exchange and maintain interests and friendships beyond national and international forest districts. He underlined that beyond the professional representation commitment, AFL members get involved in the promotion of a sustainable natural forest & habitat management which takes care about all the ecosystem services of the natural environment.

The participants in the conference were warmly welcomed by Serge WILMES, Minister of Environment, Climate and Biodiversity, who underlined that with its 50 years of existence, the Luxembourg Forester Association today represents a strong professional body within the Nature and Forest Agency of Luxembourg (ANF). He underlined that association unites forest rangers who share a true commitment to their motherland and a passion for nature, which was the reason why Luxembourg Forester Association has become an experienced key player in preserving the natural heritage, navigating between society and nature.

Tomasz MARKIEWICZ the President of UEF also welcomed the delegates of the conference. He underlined that the meeting is not only an opportunity to summarize our work, but also a platform for interesting discussions, exchange of views and a moment of reflection on the future of European forestry. T. Markiewicz also stressed that European foresters are facing many challenges today. Climate change, biodiversity protection, as well as society’s changing needs and expectations regarding forests which requires constant adaptation and innovative solutions.

After the welcoming speeches, the five keynote speakers presented various aspect of the topic of the conference.

The Director of the Nature & Forest Agency Mr. Michel LEYTEM presented the Nature and forest agency and foresters working there.

He said that the field of activity and the image of the forester has changed fundamentally in recent decades. Nowadays, foresters are modern ecosystem-service managers and their profession requires a broad profile of competences to find the right balance between ecological, economic, and social management objectives in their daily work.

He presented the structure, the development and the strategic objectives of the organization.

The second keynote speaker Prof. Dr. Alexander KNOHL, University of Göttingen, Germany Presented the topic Forest and climate - a relationship under stress. He underlined that in recent years, forests in Germany experienced unprecedented periods of heat and drought, which led to damages to large areas of forests, mainly in spruce forests, but also in beech forests. Based on specific measurements they discuss how such climate extremes affect the ability of forests to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and how they change the energy exchange between forest and atmosphere.

The climate change effect and tree-water interactions: Norway spruce story at a long-term scientific experimental forest was the topic of the third keynote speaker Mr. Jean-François IFFLY from the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. One of the priority challenges of forest management is maintaining and/or improving the capacity of forests to deliver a whole series of ecosystem services. Those services are closely linked to the quantity of water stored in the soil and subsoil, which is necessary to maintain the good health of our forests.

Another valuable presentation was delivered by Mr. Martin LEVIN, former forest manager - City Forest of Göttingen – by his lecture “The untamed forest” he showed a way to create optimal living conditions for all protected species in forests and at the same time a forest management remains possible. He questioned some aspects of “traditional forest management” and described the advantages of gentle, natural alternatives. Fortunately, many secondary aspects of the accompanying flora and fauna were also considered.

The final keynote speech was given by Thierry KOZLIK, Head of the Luxembourg City Forestry Department who presented the project “Urban forestry Luxembourg” which was aimed at developing strategic recommendations for the future management of urban forests that take into account the various societal demands on urban forests. Through an online survey, participants were invited to map their recreational routes in the urban forests of Luxembourg City and report the respective type of their activity. Furthermore, to spatially identify cultural ecosystem services as well as disservices in urban forests, participants were invited to map places in the forests of Luxembourg City that they particularly like or dislike.

After a short and interesting fieldtrip while participants were acquainted with the specifics of the urban forestry at the city of Luxembourg UEF delegates participated in the Statutory Governing Council Meeting that started at 17.00 h.

The President of UEF Tomasz Markiewicz opened the meeting and presented the main activities done during the period since the GCM in Sweden. Hans Jacobs, Marten Gustafsson, Ilpo Puputti, and Thomas Baschny presented in details the activities of the Presidency on EU level. Anna Petrakieva shared information about communication matters and new members’ activities as well as the XVIII Congress of forest pedagogy that took place in Bulgaria in the beginning of the month.

The financial situation including budget 2024 and a budget for 2025 was presented by François-Xavier Nicot the UEF treasurer and adopted by the GCM. Lars Delfs Mortensen – UEF auditor, verified the UEF accounts and presented his report as well.

The presentations made by the members of the Presidency are available at: https://european-foresters.eu/meetings/gcm/97,6.  

The invitation to the next UEF Congress in Bulgaria was presented by prof. Ivan Paligorov – President of UBF.

For the last day of the GCM programme, our hosts were prepared in professional way a diverse field trip, that enabled the participants to discover Luxembourg’s little Switzerland-UNESCO “Natur- & Geopark Mëllerdall”. Forest management requires detailed and up-to-date information about the current forest state, considering the current and upcoming challenges forests face due to climate change. Classical forest inventories, however, are still a time consuming and laborious task. Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) can precisely capture the structure of a forest in the form of point clouds, offering unprecedented possibilities for future forest monitoring practices. The strong and weak sided of Aerial based LiDAR, Drone based LiDAR and Ground based LiDAR were presented.

Another theme prepared for the day was the Integrated forest management - Synergies and trade-offs between forestry and nature conservation. Approximately 170 ha large “Friemholz” in the southeast of Berdorf is one of the extraordinary forest massifs of this municipality. Consisting especially of old oaks, it offers a habitat for many animals and plants. Of particular note is the occurrence of the Bechstein’s bat (Myotis bechsteinii). The project aims at establishing management concept that combines nature conservation and forest management goals.

In the afternoon of the day participants in the meeting was acquainted with a project related to the ecological redevelopment of the Pétrusse Valley. The aim of the project was the restoration of the Luxembourgish rivers, which have been severely altered through human activity, to a more natural state. These restoration projects have many advantages, such as reducing the risk of flooding, creating habitats for many species such as fish and birds, and providing recreational spaces for citizens. Restauration projects also contribute to bringing our rivers to a good ecological status, as required by the Water Framework Directive (WFD).

In the evening, all quests had the opportunity to thank AFL for the warm hospitality and to celebrate together with the Luxembourgish foresters the 50th anniversary of the Association.

 

UEF Presidency