In its opinion the CoR underlines sustainable forest management (SFM) being crucial for the EU Forest Strategy and requests coherence between the relevant EU policies affecting SFM. With regards to SFM indicators, threshold and ranges it calls for using the FOREST EUROPE process which is derived from the international commitments made by the EU and its Member States.
On the close-to-nature forest management certification scheme the CoR recommends carrying out further studies on planning possible implementation in order to avoid overlap with existing systems, and clarifying the synergies, added value and cost-benefit ratio that it could offer. It also requests further clarification regarding the link between sustainable forest management and the concept of close-to-nature.
Regarding payments for ecosystem services, the CoR recommends that the scope and feasibility of their development should be discussed in depth with the Member States and the sector's stakeholders, and that subsequent reality checks should be carried out to assess whether the financial mechanisms provided for in the EU Forest Strategy (CAP, carbon farming and carbon certification) would enable achieving the strategy’s objectives.
With regards to EU forest monitoring, the CoR considers that added value could only be generated provided that it is supported by the Member States and local and regional authorities and is based on data on the ground collected by national and regional forest inventories and on the experience of Forest Focus.
On legislative proposal on forest observation, reporting and data collection announced in the EUFS, the CoR concludes that there is a need for an assessment of the added value and cost-benefit ratio of the initiative, and of existing and missing data and information.
More information about recent and ongoing opinions on the EU Forest Strategy for 2030 can be found here.
