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Public engagement is vital for achieving FLEG II goals: supporting good forest governance, sustainable forest management and forest protection. The senior consultant was hired by WWF Azerbaijan to prepare SFM plan for Ismailly Forest Unit. Consultant has developed a questionnaire that covered main services of Ismailly forests area. Public opinion pall aims to get detailed information about locals’ needs and their dependency on the forest products and services.

In frame of FLEG II Program, WWF invited elementary school students for educational event in Botanical Garden of Tbilisi to talk about biodiversity and discuss how humans can minimize their ecological footprints.  Eighty students from four different schools joined the event. Various educational and fun activities were held during the day ranging from a guided tour to learn about endangered species of our forests to the hidden questions contest.

FLEG II held a seminar with the environmental activists, students and teachers under the umbrella of Public Union IDEA. The meeting, which took place in the IDEA Resource Center in the Academy of Public Administration, was second in a series of meetings titled "The successful way" by IDEA.

The FLEG ll (ENPI East) Program plans to carry out a one-week summer camp for the most distinguished activists of the young foresters' movement as in Azerbaijan as well as in six participating countries. The conduction of the summer camp is a part of the regional working plan of the Program and is foreseen to be held in Gakh district of Azerbaijan.

The Forestry Quiz organized by the FLEG II Program Coordination Team was very well received at an Information Fair that was held as part of EU Day celebrations in Armenia.

The FLEG II Program participated in the open air events organized to observe Europe Day on May 10 to raise awareness of the importance of forest protection and FSC certification.

FLEG II Program country team members from WB, IUCN and WWF gave presentations about the Program, its achievements and future plans. Students of Tbilisi Green School staged a performance on environmental problems and forest protection.

FLEG II in cooperation with local stakeholders and partners who benefited from EU assistance (Agency Moldsilva, Forest  Research  and  Management Institute, Forest Enterprise and Nursery Telenesti, Antis-Media SRL), participated in the event,  where  preliminary  results  and  products  where presented to the public.

Overgrazing is a major cause of forest degradation in Ajara region as in many other parts of Georgia. FLEG II will support forest restoration works in Ajara region. WWF-Caucasus will purchase wooden poles, barbed wire, forest restoration tools and mechanisms and transfer to the Forestry Agency of Ajara (FAA) to contribute to fencing of about 100 ha of degraded forest to protect it from cattle grazing. The actual fencing work will be conducted by the FAA by end of July – August 2015.

Beginning in April, the Moldova government’s forest management agency, Moldsilva, ceased main felling operations in 140 thousand hectares of oak forests while it reviews ways to improve leasing and sustainable forest management. The agency’s new director general made the decision to cease oak felling until the end of the year based on FLEG research, new findings of wood from dubious sources, and other information that shows current forest management systems are not doing enough to prevent the loss of Moldovan forests’ biological and economic potential.

Over 20 analytical studies, two published manuals and wide-scale practical implementation of FLEG II recommendations on the national level are some examples of the Program work results in Ukraine that were presented at the NPAC meeting on May 6.