The Forest Movement Europe (FME) is a grouping of more than 45

NGOs A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

from 12 European countries working on forest issues. The movement has been in existence, although under different names, for more than 15 years. Its purpose is to share information, to develop joint strategies and a wider European perspective on forest issues. The FME also supports NGOs and Indigenous Peoples Organisations in the South in their activities to protect forests.

History

The origin of the movement goes back to 1989 when a group of NGOs from several different European countries joint efforts to support Japanese organisations in their activities to stop the destruction of the rainforests by Japanese companies. This group of NGOs met under the heading ''Ban Japan from the Rainforest''. By 1992 the group had expanded considerably in size and in the issues it dealt with. Its focus was no longer Japanese companies but tropical rainforest protection and support for forest peoples in general. At a meeting in Munich, Germany, the group renamed itself the ''European Rainforest Movement (ERM)'', the European arm of the

World Rainforest Movement The World Rainforest Movement (WRM) is an international initiative created to strengthen the global movement in defense of forests, in order to fight deforestation and forest degradation. It was founded in 1986 by activists from around the world. ...

. It choose to be a loose movement with no formal membership and without a formal secretariat. Meetings were held twice a year, hosted by one of the participating groups and coordinated by

Saskia Ozinga Saskia Luutsche Ozinga (born 1960 in Beverwijk) is a Dutch environmental and social activist. She is the facilitator of the Forest Movement Europe (FME) and the co-founder of the NGO FERN, which she was the campaigns coordinator, between 1995 and 2 ...

FERN The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

. It was mainly due to the activities of the groups that participated in the ERM that the tropical rainforest campaigns in Europe took off, imports of tropical timber into several European countries declined and the struggle of forest peoples, e.g. in

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

, Malaysia and the Amazon were headline stories. Environmental organisations in the boreal forests who had been working in their own countries to protect these forests decided they needed outside support. The formation of the ''

Taiga Rescue Network Taiga Rescue Network (TRN) was an international network of more than 200 non-governmental organizations, indigenous peoples and individuals working to defend the world's boreal forests, also known as Taiga. TRN was established in 1992 to give a vo ...

(TRN)'' in 1992 was a crucial moment. The coordinator of the TRN, Karin Lindahl, contacted

to join forces. From that moment onwards, groups working on the boreal forests joined the ERM which was by definition not only working on tropical forests. Therefore in 1994 the group decided to change its name to ''Forest Movement Europe (FME)''. Currently the FME meets once a year. Meetings are hosted by participating organisations and are organised by

External links

FME page on FERN websiteFERN
Nature conservation organisations based in Europe Forestry organizations Flora of Europe Environmental organizations established in 1995 1995 establishments in Europe