The concept of forest landscape restoration is not a new idea. It builds on a numer of existing rural development, conservation and natural resource management principles and approaches, bringing them together to restore multiple forest functions to degraded landscapes. Forests are addressed by several international and regional concentions and policy frameworks. Forest landscape restoration could make their implementation on the ground more visible. The Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) was launched in March 2003 by IUCN, WWF and the Forestry Commission of Great Britain. It is a network of governments, organisations, communities and individuals who recognise the importance of forest landscape restoration and want to be part of a co-ordinated global effort. In contribution to the global partnership, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland, in co-operation with the European Forest Institute and with financial support from the Ministry of the Environment of Finland organised an Expert Workshop on Forest Landscape Restoration in the Central and Northern European Region. The workshop took place in Hämeenlinna, Finland on 6-8 October 2004. These proceedings compile the papers and presentations from the workshop.
