Estonia 2018
FME 2018 was held in Elbiku, Estonia, hosted by Estonian Forest Aid.
- The main issues discussed were:
- The issue of Estonian forests
- The campaign for an EU deforestation action plan
- The state of the global paper industry
- Grassroots campaigning
- Wood sourcing for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics
- Negative emissions and the role of forest restoration to fight climate change
- The global threat of increasing bioenergy demand and faulty carbon accounting of biomass
FME members also expressed their concern with the planned Estonian EstFor Pulp and Paper mill.

Spain/Galicia 2007

Held in Spain at an environmental centre in the Castle of Santa Cruz near to the Galician city of Coruña, the meeting was hosted by the university extension centre for the dissemination of environmental information (CEIDA) (www.ceida.org). One day was devoted to a strategy for Galician NGOs, before the FME meeting took place.
The main issues discussed during the meeting included:
- Progress on the European paper campaign
- Preparing for the convention on biological diversity
- Certification and the timber trade
- Illegal logging and the FLEG(T) processes
- Impact of plantations in Galicia, Portugal and Brazil
- Forests and climate change
- Agrofuels/biofuels
- Forest Fires
Germany 2003
In 2003, FME was held in May in Munich, Germany.
The following issues were discussed:
- Consumer campaign against tropical timber
- Funding the Pulp Invasion a new WRM report
- The EC aid programme and its impact on forests
- Brazilian issues
- Certification of Malaysian projects
- World Bank Forest Policy and its impacts on development aid and lending
- Intergovernmental Processes in 2003
- Indonesia (looking at oil palm, pulp and paper and illegal logging)
- Forest Certification
- Illegal logging
- Carbon Sinks
- EU enlargement (looking at investment and logging in Eastern Europe)
One of the meeting outcomes was a statement by the NGOs present exposing Malaysia’s attempts to greenwash its logging industry.
France 1999
The first day of the meeting was set aside for a discussion on strategy in Africa jointly organised with Rainforest Action Network US. One of the main discussion points was how US and European groups could achieve more synergy to be able to strengthen the work of African NGOs and Indigenous Peoples’ Organisations. Over the next two days, the following issues were discussed:
- Malaysia and the Sarawak Campaign
- World Bank Implementation Review
- Intergovernmental Forum on Forests
- EC aid and forests
- Indonesia
- Cambodia
- The Amazon
- FSC Discussions
- The Sami people’s struggle within Sweden
Two letters were signed by participants of the FME on the subjects of:
- The closure of a diplomatic mission in central Africa
- Swedish treatment of the Sami people
Netherlands 1998
In 1998, FME was held in March in a beautiful castle in Heemskerk, a town close to Amsterdam. It was hosted by http://www.milieudefensie.nl/english (Friends of the Earth Netherlands).
The main topics discussed were:
- EC aid to tropical forests
- World Bank (including the forest policy review)
- Shrimp farming and the destruction of mangrove forests
- World Resources Institute setting up a forest information project called the Global Forest Watch
Urgent action alerts were on the following issues:
- Malaysia (Sarawak)
- The Amazon
- Gabon
- Surinam/Guyana
- Indonesia: The merger of two huge pulp and paper companies April and UPM