Margret Köthke and Sven Günter were nominated to represent the Thünen Institute in the EU Commission Expert Group on Protecting and Restoring the World's Forests, including the EUTR and the FLEGT Regulation

Margret Köthke and Sven Günter from TI WF were nominated as representatives for this task.

Since 2014, a Commission Expert Group comprised of Member States authorities has been assisting with the implementation of the EUTR and the FLEGT Regulation. The scope of the existing Expert Group is now expanded for stakeholders. Further, in July 2019, the European Commission adopted an EU Communication on ‘Stepping up EU Action to Protect and Restore the World’s Forests’, with the objective of protecting and improving the health of existing forests, especially primary forests, and significantly increasing sustainable, biodiverse forest cover worldwide.

Before this background the European Commission established the new platform for multi-stakeholder and Member State dialogue. The forum aims to foster exchanges with and among stakeholders in order to build alliances, push for and share commitments to significantly reduce deforestation, and share experiences and information.

The main objective of the platform is to provide advice and assistance to the Commission in the preparation of legislative proposals and policy initiatives, the preparation of delegated acts and the implementation of Union legislation, programmes and policies.