NWFPs News

Within the 1st Workshop and 2nd Management Committee Meeting Programme there was a field trip to the Companhia das Lezirias, a large estate nearby Lisbon, focusing on Portuguese non-wood forest products such as: cork, pine nuts, mushrooms, resin and game. It was an opportunity to visit different forest stands including cork oak (Quercus suber), stone pine (Pinus pinea) and maritime pine (Pinus pinaster). Information on the management carried out by Companhia das Lezirias was provided by Rui Alves. Celeste Santos e Silva (University of Evora) explained the mushrooms under cork oak and pine stands. Margarida Alvim (Geoterra) presented a brief overview about resin from maritime pine in the current International and National context.

A member from COST Action FP1203 with a special talent on photography, Agnes Geirdal, MC member from Iceland, will be supporting with her beutifil photos the image of this COST Action. We are very thankful for having this privilege. For those who would like to see some of Agnes brilliant work you are most welcome to visit the following link from Flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ageirdal/

The inaugural meeting of COST Action FP1203, European non-wood forest products (NWFPs) network, was held in Brussels, at the COST Office, on the 9th of April. The meeting focussed at the beginning on general information from the COST mechanism and on the agreement on the internal rules of procedure for the MC of the COST Action. Afterwards, Chair, Vice-Chair, Working Group Leaders, Task Force Leaders and STSM coordinator were elected forming the Steering Committee. Grant Holder and Financial Rapporteurs were appointed. Working plan for the implementation of the COST Action according to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) was discussed. Budget Plan for the first period as well as the place and date of next meeting we agreed.

We are happy to announce that the European NWFPs network website has been launched. At this stage it is still a prototype from what might be if the COST Action Full Proposal: "European non-wood forest products (NWFPs) network" will be successful. All the comments to improve this current version are very welcome.