New EU Forest Strategy for 2030 – Sustainable Forest Management in Europe
The European Parliament report on the EU Forest Strategy for 2030 by rapporteur MEP Ulrike Müller was adopted on 13 September 2022.
European forest owners find the report balanced as it considers forests from all their three functions – social, economic and environmental - and underlines their multifunctionality. It importantly acknowledges that varying forest conditions and forest types may require different management approaches and stresses the urgent need to increase the capacity to adapt to climate change.
The report points out on several occasions that the strategy and its implementation must be coherent with the work undertaken by FOREST EUROPE and international organisations and to fully respect the subsidiarity principle.
Last but not least, the report highlights the central role of forest owners and managers and their need for a large amount of flexibility in their forest management practices.
Deforestation Regulation
The European Parliament position on Deforestation Regulation by rapporteur MEP Christophe Hansen was adopted on 13 September 2022.
The Parliament’s proposal to remove the definition for “sustainable harvesting operations” is a crucial improvement, and in line with the Member States’ position. The position also introduces a deadline of six months for the Country Benchmarking which would help to avoid potential bottlenecks in the Commission’s assessment procedure.
Unfortunately, the position also introduces a number of inadequate definitions and provisions that risk losing the balance between high ambition and implementability. In this context, European forest owners and managers have already raised their concerns regarding the definition of the term “forest degradation” and on the measures on substantiated concern and access to justice. Next to these issues, the Parliament’s position adds following points that are concerning to European forest owners:
- The Introduction of the term “forest conversion” could hinder managing options to adapt forests to the changing climate, as it prevents changes in the composition, structure and function of forest ecosystems.
- New geolocation requirements are hardly (if at all) implementable and based on uncommon parameters. Especially the requirements to provide geolocation coordinates presents a challenge for forest owners for technical reasons.
- Narrowed down simplification of due diligence puts unjustified burden on operators which only produce in low risk countries. Furthermore, broader simplifications would increase the incentive for countries to reduce their risk category.
Renewable Energy Directive
The European parliament voted on its position on the Renewable Energy Directive revision proposal by rapporteur MEP Markus Pieper on 14 September 2022.
For European forest owners, the Parliament’s position shows total incomprehension on the role of forest owners. European forest owners strongly disapprove the Parliament´s position to end the support to primary biomass and to limit its contribution to Member States and EU renewable energy targets at the level of 2017-2022 before phasing it down by 2030.
This position sends a very negative signal to forest owners who carry out sustainable forest management, which is needed to provide society with all the benefits of forests, including the supply of materials that substitute fossils. The position is in total contradiction with the realities of forest management since nearly every harvest and tending operation results in primary biomass removal from forests and these practices are needed for delivering high-quality timber. It also creates huge uncertainties on the future of the bioenergy sector, with impacts on the forest sector.
In a context where the EU is struggling to get rid of fossil-dependency, European forest owners do not understand the decision to tighten the rules for using a local and renewable source of energy.
