Forum Synergies Newsletter

2nd Workshop on Sustainable Forestry in Serbia
The 2nd workshop in a series of 4 took place from 10 - 13 November 2016 in Tara National Parc, Serbia. Around 30 participants from 10 different, mainly Western Balkan countries met and exchanged about elements of sustainable forest management and drivers of unsustainable management. In our fieldtrips we experienced topics related to 1) forest management in the National Parc including the handling of pest diseases (bark beetle) and fire hazards. 2) economic activities related to forestry. You can find background information on our website. The report will be available soon.

Lifeshop Ukraine 2016

Twenty participants, coming from 12 countries shared these 2 days experience that gave a gasp of Karpatske Kolo activities and of Ukraine current situation. We visited two entrepreneurial projects: a goat farm producing also dairy products and a berry seedlings farm and laboratory, both funded and managed by one local private investor. Dolyna mayor and team presented the municipality initiatives linked to buildings energy saving, alternative to fossil fuels and electronic democracy. In Vyhoda, we had a short introduction on how the State Forest company manages woodland and timber – an important source of public income. We finished with Vyhoda Gauge Railway Heritage Center, a municipal initiative promoting local heritage and a trip in the Carpathian tram – a touristic offer privately run.
The report presents the feed-back (impressions, concerns and suggestions) shared during the Lifeshop or sent afterwards by participants. Other articles, gallery are also available on our website.

Forum Synergies on social networks: Forum Synergies on social networks: you can also follow our activities on https://www.facebook.com/ForumSynergies/

European Rural Parliament 2017: The Third European Rural Parliament will be held 18 to 21 October 2017 in the small village of Venhorst, in the North Brabant province of the Netherlands. This village, with a population of 1,700, may seem an unlikely setting for an international gathering of 300 people from over 40 European countries. The European Rural Parliament is a long-term campaign – lead by local, national and European organisations - to express the voice of rural people in Europe. It reaches a climax every two years with a Gathering of rural people from all parts of Europe. http://www.europeanruralparliament.com.

Join ARC2020 “After PAC debate”: ARC 2020 invites you to give your assessment and to share your visions of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy in these un-common times. Join us, get involved, get animated, make a contribution. http://www.arc2020.eu/afterCAP/

Latvian Fishermen Federation - ancient traditions, nowadays activities, challenges and call for cooperation
Our colleagues Evalds Urtans from Latvian Fishermen Federation shares a short presentation on the federation activities, an organisation which unites most of the Latvian fishermen and was founded in 1999 with the aim to protect their professional interests and ensure development of traditional fishery in Latvia. He also invites interested associations or private sector to cooperate on projects related to:
1) Sustainable fishery in coastal or rural areas, 2) Ideas of traditional fish and other gastronomic receipts, to do not loose historical values, 3) Short chains, e-auctions for small producers, 4) Exchange of experience, new activities of processing of all marine products. See the complete description here.

Regulations on food selling and processing for small farmers in Poland
Here are some news from ICCPC on the New Food Act :“After a year and a half of hard grind, our New Food Act, which supports the small farmer's right to sell home grown and processed farmhouse foods, is now getting its first reading in the Polish parliament! Up until now, Poland's small farmers have been heavily discriminated against thanks to regulatory pressures making it illegal for them to process and sell home grown foods without a separate building and a special license. Supermarket and food industry lobbying of successive governments has pushed millions of small farms to the edge of bankruptcy and threatened the future of traditional Polish farming values throughout the Country. Our 'farmer/consumer' written Act, insists on a derogation being made available for smaller scale farms to be freed from Polish and EU regulatory conditions only pertaining to large farming enterprises.” www.icppc.pl

Wood Pastures Manifesto
With the deployment of the new reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 2015, livestock farmers using High Nature Value pastures containing "too many" trees and shrubs are confronted with increased difficulties to receive the much needed EU support for their farming activities. After sharing concerns on the topic in 2015 (see booklet “Europe’s wood pastures: condemned to a slow death by the CAP?), EFNCP launched a campaign to raise awareness and gather as much support as possible from organisations across Europe, particularly those working on farming, conservation and rural development, to ask the EU institutions for urgent policy changes. You can still give your support to the [“Wood Pastures Manifesto for Urgent Change to the CAP”

European Community Supported Agriculture Declaration
Agreed by 150 participants, in the framework of the 3rd European Meeting of Community Supported Agriculture movements held from 16th to 18th September 2016 in Ostrava in the Czech Republic . CSA encompasses a system of direct contractualised sales based on the direct relationship between producers and consumers. All exchange is based on human relationships, shared risks and responsibilities, and the fruits of farming, and everything is based on a long-term commitment. This Declaration is the movement’s identity card and its aim is to inspire isolated initiatives and proclaim the social movement character of CSA and show how all European actors are speaking as one. As the movement if growing the Declaration also aims to limit capture of CSA, by clearly stating its objectives. ”