The European Forest Institute is an international organisation established by European States.

EFI was established in 1993 in Joensuu, Finland with the aim of enhancing international forest research and providing decision makers with unbiased forest-related information at a pan-European level.

Member Countries

By the spring of 2013, a total of 25 European States had ratified the Convention on EFI, namely Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

These countries are Members of the Institute. The highest decision-making body of the Institute, the Council, consists of representatives of the Members, and meets in ordinary session every three years.

Associate and Affiliate Members

The EFI Associate Members meet on annual basis at the EFI annual conference. EFI currently has c.115 member organisations from 36 countries (including also EFI Affiliate Members). The organisations mainly include research institutes and universities.

Vision

Their vision is to live in a world where the sustainability of our forests and societies is secured. They will achieve this by bringing together the best possible cross-boundary knowledge and expertise, and by actively contributing to the ongoing dialogue on forests.

Values

They strive to deliver high quality research and networking services. This is reflected through their management processes, which are based on professionalism, transparency, participation and fairness.

Innovation

They explore and test new and innovative approaches in their activities. They develop new ways of promoting and organising research, sharing knowledge and improving networking and partnerships at the pan-European level.

Commitment

They take care that their clients, member countries and organisations are satisfied with their products and services. EFI staff aim to contribute to an inspiring and stimulating networking environment.

Participation

They openly invite their Members, member organisations and the multi-disciplinary forest research community at large, to utilise and take part in the EFI network. They believe that such participation helps achieve better co-operation and coordination of research, improves the knowledge-base for policy-making and decision-taking, and strengthens the science-policy interface.