Jan Heino Forestry Director for FAO

Mr. Jan Heino, M.Sc. (For.), Director General of Metsähallitus (58), has been chosen Assistant Director-General and Head for the Forestry Department of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The office of the Assistant Director-General is located in Rome, at the FAO’s head office.

“The appointment shows significant acknowledgement for Finland’s forestry sector and the country’s high competence in forestry, which are respected around the globe,” says Mr Juha Korkeaoja, Finland’s Minister of Agriculture and Forestry. “Finland has been very active in the FAO and other international forestry matters, and we are pleased that the FAO has expressed confidence in Finnish forestry competence, something which Jan Heino has demonstrated during his career.”

Director General Heino resignes from the service of the State forest enterprise Metsähallitus at the end of June this year. Public applications for the position of Managing Director of Metsähallitus will be accepted in June. The Finnish Government will appoint the Managing Director, and in the interim, Director of Forestry Hannu Jokinen will act as Managing Director.

Heino sees his appointment as an important honour for Metsähallitus as well, where he has been Director General since 2000. During Heino’s time at the helm, Metsähallitus has developed strongly in response to the new demands of the State Enterprise Act, and the market orientation of this state enterprise has further increased.

“Metsähallitus is in good shape and has strengthened its position,” says Heino. “At the end of last year the state, which owns Metsähallitus, thoroughly examined its future prospects. The new strategic decisions approved by the Government concerning the use of state forests provide a solid foundation for Metsähallitus’s operations and future development.”

Heino has previously acted as chairman of the Committee on Forestry, under the FAO, as well as chairman of the FAO’s European Forestry Commission. Metsähallitus has internationalised rapidly during Heino’s time in its service. He has held a key position in co-operating with European state-owned forestry organisations and was named chairman of the recently established European State Forest Association EUSTAFOR in Brussels. “With this new appointment I will now have to abandon that post,” says Heino.

Work reaches the four corners of the earth

The FAO was founded in 1945, and with 189 member states, it is the UN’s largest specialised agency. The FAO collects data on agriculture, forestry, fisheries and nutrition, provides guidance and carries out development work worldwide. The FAO has an important role in realising the development goals of the UN’s Millennium Declaration and the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development. In forest matters, important FAO tasks include monitoring global forest reserves, promoting national forest programmes and supporting the work of the UN’s Forum on Forests.

Heino’s most important task will be to lead the FAO’s Forestry Department and its network of experts. Approximately 120 people work in the Forestry Department, but the extensive network also encompasses offices on different continents and development projects, including forestry experts, plus other personnel of this expansive organisation.

Heino considers the promotion of all aspects of sustainable forestry a central factor in reducing the global scourge of poverty and hunger.

“At the forefront are the creation of national forestry policies as well as functional national forest programmes that are tailored to each country in question. That is the basis from which the forestry sector will really take off, which, in turn, will result in positive development for society as a whole.”

For further information, please contact: Metsähallitus, Director General Jan Heino, +358 205 644201 Metsähallitus, Director of Communications Juha Mäkinen, +358 40 570 9307 Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Director General Aarne Reunala +358 400 437 222

Photographs of Jan Heino available at www.metsa.fi/janheino An article on this issue to be read at Finnish Forest Association's website www.forest.fi