FABI’s Professor Mike Wingfield attended a meeting to provide advise on options to develop a National Forest Protection Programme for Colombia during a recent visit to the country.  The meeting was held at at the "Piedras Blancas" Forest Station of the Department of Forestry Sciences of the National University of Colombia in Medellin on June 3. The gathering was attended by representatives from most of  the companies active in Colombia’s forestry industry, the Colombian Agricultural Institute - ICA (Colombia’s National regulatory body on plant health), the Department of Forestry Sciences of the National University of Colombia, and FEDEMADERAS and focussed on discussions regarding a proposal to establish a Forest Protection Programme for Colombia. In this  meeting, Prof Wingfield highlighted the importance of linking the country’s university system to advance forest protection research through Master's and Doctoral theses.  He also recommended the establishment of a broad international cooperation network of peer institutions to facilitate the exchange of information and experiences pertaining to forest health. An institutional framework will now be established to develop a formal forest protection programme for Colombia.