Preparation

Between 1991 and 1993 a follow-up committee of four experts from Finland, France, Poland and Portugal, assisted by scientists from other European countries and experts from the Forestry Department of FAO, Bioversity International (then the International Plant Genetics Resource Institute, IPGRI) and the European Commission, drew up a proposal for a regional collaborative programme.

The committee also proposed that this regional collaboration should focus first on a limited number of tree species representing different geographic and ecological conditions in Europe.

The committee’s recommendations and a proposal developed by Bioversity International and FAO were then endorsed by the Helsinki Conference in June 1993 and EUFORGEN became operational in October 1994.