Conifers Network: Report of the second (20-22 September 2001, Valsaín, Spain), and third (17-19 October 2002, Kostrzyca, Poland) meetings

In many countries of Europe, these species are now considered less important than broadleaves. An objective of the Network should be to highlight the role of conifer species and their ecological and economic importance. EUFORGEN members, weree also encouraged to become more active and open in respect of the environment protection community. On the subject of research, it was pointed out that the Networks have been instrumental in providing opportunities to discuss needs and priorities for research, and a platform to develop research proposals and to facilitate dissemination of research results. He thanked the host country and all the local organizers for the excellent arrangements.Reports on the status of conservation from twenty-seven countries (Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Norway, Poland, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom) were presented at the meeting. In order to streamline the discussion on the progress made, it was proposed to divide the participants into four groups loosely representing major ecogeographic areas of Europe: western Europe, Mediterranean, northern Europe, and central and eastern Europe. Each group had the task of summarizing the important elements from the national reports and presenting them in a concise form in plenary.