European Forestry Commission Working Party on the Management of Mountain Watersheds
For over seven decades, the Working Party has successfully established dialogue and fostered cooperation among European mountain stakeholders. It has created new networks and has allowed a common vision on best practices to promote sustainable development and enhance resilience in mountain watersheds. Soil and biodiversity conservation, water management, restoration of degraded lands, protective forest management and torrent-control in mountain watersheds are important challenges which require the collaboration of all the actors involved.
Thematic and technical working groups
To enable more specific responses to different challenges within the European region, thematic and technical working groups were established within the Working Party.
The working groups may be in place for a limited duration – until a task is accomplished – or operate over a longer period of time. Each working group has a lead country, terms of reference, a work plan, defined outputs and expected results.
Working Group 1: Forest and water
Co-leads: Finland and Türkiye
Participating countries: Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, and Slovenia
Working Group 1 was established in 2013 at the twenty-seventh session of the Working Party on the Management ofMountain Watersheds (WPMMW) to work on interlinkages of forests and water catchments, while addressing currentand future forest challenges.
The establishment of the WG1 has been part of the implementation of the new WPMMW structure and modus operandi. This Working Group strategy builds on a previous strategy document from 22 October 2013 and was elaborated at the 32nd Session of the WPMMW on 25 September 2019 in Innsbruck, Austria.
For more information: Working Group 1 objectives and central themes
Working Group 2 was created in 2013 at the twenty-ninth session of the Working Party.
Co-leads: Austria and France
More information: Objectives and outputs
The Working Group 3 “Protective Functions of Forests” was proposed in 2019 at the thirty-second session of the Working Party on the Management of Mountain Watersheds (WPMMW) to work on interlinkages between protective functions of forests, ecosystem services, and related challenges and impacts of climate change. The establishment of WG3 was revised and agreed by WPMMW members.
(Co)-leads: Austria
Participating countries: France, Germany, Greece, Italy, North Macedonia (observer status), Slovenia and Switzerland
Sessions
| Year | Meeting Title | Meeting Report |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 |
34th Session of the EFC Working Party on Management of Mountain WatershedsBolzano (Italy), 27/09/2023 - 29/09/2023 |
|
| 2021 |
33rd Session of the EFC Working Party on Management of Mountain WatershedsTraunkirchen (Austria), 13/10/2021 - 15/10/2021 |
|
| 2019 |
32nd Session of the EFC Working Party on Management of Mountain WatershedsInnsbruck (Austria), 25/09/2019 - 27/09/2019 |