On 12-14 February 2003, 97 delegates from 36 European countries, the European Commission and the MCPFE observer countries and organizations gathered in Vienna, Austria to prepare for the 4th Ministerial Conference, which will take place 28-30 April 2003 in Vienna.

After three days of lively discussion, MCPFE participants reached agreement on the content of the Conference documents: a Vienna Declaration and five resolutions are now ready to be considered by the European ministers responsible for forests at the end of April. The documents were discussed in detail based on drafts that had been prepared at the MCPFE Drafting Meeting in Eisenstadt, Austria, on 9-10 December 2002.
As the principal outcome, the Vienna Declaration “European Forests – Common Benefits, Shared Responsibilities” will focus on the roles of forests in relation to rural livelihood and urban societies, partnerships between the forest sector and other sectors, as well as the European contribution to global debates. The five resolutions address cross-sectoral cooperation and national forest programmes; the enhancement of economic viability of sustainable forest management (SFM); the preservation of the cultural dimension of SFM; and the conservation of forest biological diversity as well as climate change and SFM in Europe.
Meeting participants also adopted the “Framework for Co-operation between MCPFE and Environment for Europe/Pan-European Biological Landscape Diversity Strategy” to be adopted also by the respective ministers both at the Living Forest Summit and at the Fifth Ministerial Conference, “Environment for Europe,” which will take place on 21-23 May 2003 in Kiev, Ukraine. For further information on the above meetings visit: http://www.mcpfe.org and http://www.mcpfe.org/livingforestsummit/