Its tireless work since its inception has enabled the USSE to integrate itself into the most important international forums for the forest sector as a whole. The main forums are:
EUROPEAN UNION
• Civil Dialogue Group (CDG), where it is a full member with two seats. The CDG is a formal space in which representatives from the forestry sector interact with the European Commission on the matters regulated by the Common Agricultural Policy.
• Ad hoc Working Groups, organised by the DG Agriculture, DG Industry, DG Environment (Green Infrastructure Strategy, Forest Management in Natura 2000, EU Forest Communication Strategy...). These are groups established by the Consultative Committees where deemed necessary, for examination of specific issues and expert contributions to a matter of interest.
FOREST EUROPE (MCPFE)
USSE is an accredited organisation in FOREST EUROPE. It participates in the preparatory work of Ministerial Conferences and in so-called Expert Level Meetings, which is the process's governance body between conferences.
UNITED NATIONS
The USSE has had the status of United Nations Consultative Organisation since July 2003.
• United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF). This was established in 2000 to promote the sustainable handling, conservation and development of forests and to bolster the political commitments expressed in the Rio Declaration, the Forest Principles, Agenda 21 and other international forest policy processes.
• FAO Forestry Committee (COFO). This is the FAO's principal statutory body in forestry. It sits every two years, attended by the head of forestry services and other public servants, with the purpose of identifying new forestry policies and techniques, in an advisory capacity to the FAO. Many NGOs participate in these sessions.
• FAO European Forestry Committee (EFC). Created in 1947, it is one of the 6 regional committees for forests established by the FAO. It serves as a debate forum for European countries which addresses forest issues.
• UNECE Committee on Forests and the Forest Industry (COFFI). This committee acts as a source of information, data and analysis of the forest sector in the UNECE region. It also provides a forum for political debate. A common secretariat of the UNECE/FAO supports the COFFI and the EFC.
• UNECE Forest Communicators' Network (FCN) which can be defined as a think-tank on forest communication. It has played an important role in defining the European Forest Week, the World Forest Week, the International Year of Forests, and other significant events.
PEFC INTERNATIONAL
This unites all the world's national PEFC entities. The USSE is an associate member, which allows it to obtain information from its members and state its opinion on the progress of the PEFC in the different regions, with the aim of improving and harmonising the application of the PEFC sustainable forest certification system.
EFI
The European Forest Institute (EFI) is the inter-governmental agency for forestry research in Europe, of which the USSE is a founding member.
IEFC / EFI ATLANTIC Advisory board.
This is the regional office of the EFI for Atlantic forests. The USSE has supported the creation of the EFI ATLANTIC Regional Office.
OTHER ORGANISATIONS
Forestry Group of COPA-COGECA (Committee of Professional Agricultural Organisations and the General Confederation of Agricultural Cooperatives in the European Union), as founding member. The COPA is the first European organisation to represent the agricultural sector, which merged with COGECA in 1962. It unites numerous organisations from EU Member States and other collaborators.
