We are delighted to introduce the summer newsletter.

Forest education at all levels is essential to ensuring future generations are able to enjoy all the benefits from forests, and this issue’s special section on youth engagement starting on shows the real impacts FLEG II is having in the lives of young people across the region.

By helping forests enrich the lives of young people now, we are preparing children to be leaders and wise stewards of our forests in the future. And even seasoned forest professionals can still learn new ways to better protect and manage the forest as we see in stories from Georgia, Belarus and Russia.

This issue also shows the value of working together, sharing information and building on success. The feature story, Community “Fingerprints” Taking Shape, shows all three as it describes FLEG II’s work to build on its forest dependency studies with new technology across all seven countries. Stories of cooperation between Georgia and Armenia and Belarus and Russia echo that theme.

These stories and the many others focused on themes like sustainable management and forest restoration, along with the new calendar of events at the end of the newsletter, truly show the breadth and impact of FLEG II’s work and make me proud to be part of this effort. Enjoy!