Indufor, in a consortium led by Particip GmbH, Germany, will be starting the implementation of the EU technical assistance facility for improving sustainable forest management, also known as Forests For the Future Facility – F4. This new four-year facility will be funded from EU’s Annual Action Program 2018 for the Environment and Climate Change. Source: Timberbiz
Other partners in the consortium are GFA Consulting Group GmbH (Germany), Prospect C&S SA, (Belgium) and Oréade-Brèche (France).
The long-term technical assistance team, led by Egger Topper, to be based in Brussels for four years, has four other key experts, one of which is Petri Lehtonen, Private Sector Investment Expert. Mr Lehtonen worked for Indufor from 1992 to 2018 in several positions and was Indufor’s deputy managing director from 2008 and senior partner from 2011.
The project is scheduled to start in mid-January 2020.
The value of the contract with the European Commission Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development (EuropeAid) is just over EUR 9 million.
The overall objective of the contract is to set-up and manage the new Forest For the Future Facility (F4) aimed at implementing the EU policy framework on forests.
The EC intends to take an even stronger leadership role in protecting and restoring the world’s forests. One of the proposed key actions of the EC communication “Stepping up EU Action to Protect and Restore the World’s Forests” is to implement sustainable forest-based value chains and promote sustainable bio-economies.
The success of the action depends on the leverage of private investments and finance.
The Facility will support the work of the EU and its partners in the area of forests through the provision of technical support to the Commission services (both Commission Headquarters and EU Delegations) and partner countries, to support sustainable forest management, reduce deforestation/forest degradation, promote sustainable investments and decent jobs in partner countries.
