From the COST Office:

The European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) and theEuropean Forest Institute (EFI) are coordinating “COST Strategic Workshops: Foresight on Future Demand for Forest-based Products and Services”. Part of the exercise in 2010-2011 is to collect expert perceptions about the futures of the forest-based sector in a long time horizon.

You have now a chance to contribute to the forest-based sector futures 2050 by giving your input to the Internet Survey “Foresight on Future Demand for Forest-based Products and Services” at www.edelphi.fi/en/groups/COSTforesight/.

This is an explorative exercise to challenge our thinking about the future and the different development pathways there might open in the future for forests and the forest-based sector as a whole. Although the forest sector has been active in forward looking studies and analyses – such as growth trends, market analysis etc. – there is a need for more demand-side oriented exercise involving actors and stakeholders also outside the core forest sector.

The Internet Survey is open until December 17, 2010 and there is open access for registrations. Please feel free to distribute this invitation to key organisations and individuals you want to participate in this exercise.

The survey results will be used for defining research needs for the forest-based sector and related sectors, and the results will be disseminated to policy and decision makers in two conferences in the autumn 2011. The data and information collected will be made available for those contributing to the survey. Please, see the short introduction at the Survey website – and if you have any further questions, do not hesitate to contact Ms. Paivi Pelli at EFI (paivi.pelli @ efi.int).

Share you perceptions and learn about how others see the future, the opportunities and challenges ahead us!