Brussels, 19/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Friday, the European Commission proposed a new programme called "Forest Focus", the aim of which is to ensure better protection of forests and greater awareness of the importance that forests have for our environment. It recommends that the programme, to begin on 1 January 2003 and end on 31 December 2008, should have a budget of EUR 13 million. Until now, EU action for the protection of forests has been limited to measures to monitor the impact of fire and atmospheric pollution. Forest Focus aims to extend these activities to impact assessment of climate change on forest ecosystems and to contribute to completing Community policies on biodiversity, sequestration of carbon and soil protection. The programme will be open to candidate countries. For further information: http: //europa.eu.int/comm/environment/nature/forest-regulations.htm