Dear Colleagues, on 18-22 July 2016, FAO Headquarters, Rome, Italy, the FAO Committee on Forestry (COFO, http://www.fao.org/about/meetings/cofo/en/ ) will be held in the framework of World Forest Week. The Committee on Forestry (COFO) is the highest FAO Forestry statutory body. The biennial sessions of COFO (held at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy) bring together heads of forest services and other senior government officials to identify emerging policy and technical issues, to seek solutions and to advise FAO and others on appropriate action. Other international organizations and, increasingly, non-governmental groups participate in COFO. Participation in COFO is open to all FAO member countries. The key themes of the Session seek to respond directly to the milestone agreements of 2015 and investigate how forests and sustainable forest management can contribute to the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals. Together with the World Forest Week, COFO will consider how the full potential of forests, including forests’ contributions to livelihoods, food security, jobs, gender equality and many other global development goals including the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreements, can best be unlocked. Close collaboration of the FAO Technical Committees allows for discussion of FAO’s corporate approaches to these challenges. With such arrangements, COFO has a unique opportunity to review relevant developments and contribute with its expertise, in coordination with other Committees, to help shape the policies and programmes of FAO. During this week a short dissemination event will be organised by the Cost Action FP1202 “Strengthening conservation: a key issue for adaptation of marginal/peripheral populations of forest trees to climate change in Europe (MaP-FGR)” [http://www.cost.eu/COST_Actions/fps/FP1202] to spread Action principia and results to Worldwide stackeholders, mainly policimakers and gouvernaments represented in this COFO Session. Please, spread among your Country represnters or delegates this important opportunity to meet us. Kind regards Fulvio Ducci Dr. Fulvio Ducci Chair Cost Action FP1202 “Strengthening conservation: a key issue for adaptation of marginal/peripheral populations of forest trees to climate change in Europe (MaP‐FGR)” http://www.cost.eu/domains_actions/fps/Actions/FP1202 http://map-fgr.entecra.it/ Tel. +39 0575 353021 Fax + 39 0575 353490 Skype: ghiandaiafd