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More than 150 delegates from 31 countries attended the International Model Forest Network (IMFN) Global Forum in Hinton, Canada, from June 16-20. The event was co-hosted by the Foothills Research Institute, the Canadian Model Forest Network (CMFN) and the IMFN Secretariat. Additional support was gratefully received from the Alberta Forest Research Institute.

The Global Forum takes place approximately every three years and is an opportunity for IMFN members to identify ways to support and enhance the contributions model forests are making to the sustainable management of natural resources and forested landscapes from local to international levels. And as participants saw, model forests have been registering significant impacts in areas ranging from forest certification to fire management to poverty alleviation, policy influence and education. The 2008 IMFN Global Forum provided an opportunity not only to network and learn from each other, but more importantly to demonstrate tangible results, or planned achievements, on-the-ground. Significant outcomes from the event include:

·         The identification of four key IMFN strategic initiatives including community sustainability, adaptation to climate change, knowledge sharing and environmental service

·         Significant progress in documenting and understanding of the contributions and impacts model forests are having locally, nationally and internationally

·         Greater understanding of the IMFN contribution to global efforts to sustainability and the niche role model forests can fulfil relative to other like-minded initiatives

·         The development of new international collaboration agreements between sites

·         Agreement to move ahead on the Circumboreal Initiative by participating countries including Canada, Sweden, Russia, China, the U.S and Finland

·         The official launch of the Mediterranean Model Forest Network

“Feedback from participants over the week was uniformly positive in terms of the event providing a learning environment that is relevant to members’ interests, and in terms of there having been very important opportunities for members to provide their views on the strategic directions that the Network should be taking,” said IMFN Director Peter Besseau. “I think we come out of this meeting with a great deal of confidence and a very strong sense of ourselves as being fully capable to continue to make contributions to important sustainability issues as a global community of practice.”

The next IMFN Global Forum will be hosted by the Urbión Model Forest, Spain, in 2011. For more information, please contact the IMFN Secretariat atimfns@nrcan.gc.ca.