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Welcome to the EC Forest Platform - an initiative that links peoples in the South and the European Community on aid and forest issues

Iola Leal Riesco
"Please send me information about your activities that you want to publicise to other Platform members. I hope you will take this opportunity to make Platform a 'live' debate on EC aid and forest issues."
Co-ordinator of the EC Forest Platform.


Belmond Tchoumba
"Thanks to the EC Forest Platform we will be able to monitor the impact of the EC aid policy on forests and forest people in Cameroon."
Centre pour l'Environnement et le Développement au Cameroun.

Aims and history of the EC Forest Platform

The European Community has very little direct contact with the people and organisations that know about forest issues in recipient countries. It is therefore the aim of the EC Forest Platform to:

Give a voice to NGOs and forest peoples who want to present their issues to the European Community

Debate the impacts of EC aid policies and projects on forests and forest peoples,

Provide information to EC policy makers about forests and forest peoples.The EC Forest Platform is not an advice service for organisations seeking EC funding.


How much EC aid is spent on forests?

In 2002 we investigated how EC aid will be spent in 16 highly-forested countries. Our research revealed that much of the money given by the EC for development does not recognise the role that forests play in providing food, fuel and materials for forest-dependent people. NGO representatives from Cameroon, Suriname and Indonesia contributed to the results, which were published in a report Forests at the Edge and sent to EC pAolicy-makers.

For more information about the EC Forest Platform please email iola@fern.org.

The EC Forest Platform is run by FERN - see www.fern.org.