14 September 2012 - 1.    Acknowledging the contribution forests can make to rural development through the
provision of secure employment with competitive incomes,....

1.    Acknowledging the contribution forests can make to rural development through the
provision of secure employment with competitive incomes, while also offering wider societal
benefits in terms of an array of ecosystem services such as improved human health,
recreation, tourism, protection of water and soil, prevention of natural hazards, the use of
other non-wood forest products, biodiversity and other environmental services as well as
providing habitats for plants and animals;
Recognising the long tradition of sustainable forest management (SFM) in Europe and the
multifunctional role of forests in providing goods and services to society, including the need
to maintain ecosystem resilience and productivity as well as other economic, social and
environmental benefits, and affirming the EU's commitment to the principles of SFM as
defined by Forest Europe;
Underlining the opportunity for Europe's forests and its forest sector:

to be at the heart of the EU's shift towards a green bio-based economy that values and
takes intő account the need to maintain or sustainably develop natural capital;
to optimise the sustainable contribution of EU forests to meeting the future demand of
wood through increased mobilisation and increased afforestation, particularly in Member
States where the level of forest cover is significantly below the EU average;

Noting that although there is no specific provision for a common EU forest policy in the
Treaty and whilst underlining the national competence in the area, forests and forestry are
significant and essential elements of several existing and developing EU policies;
Acknowledging the positive developments that have arisen firom both the 1998 EU Forestry
Strategy and the 2006 EU Forest Action Plan and further considering the EU Forest
Communication Strategy as well as the Action Plan on innovative and sustainable forest-
based industries and its implementation;
Warmly welcoming the Working Group report contributing to the development of a new
EU Forest Strategy and in particular appreciating the wide and constructive participation of
different Commission DGs, Member States and stakeholders;
The Standing Forestry Committee takes the position that the new Strategy:
Should enshrine and endorse the principles of SFM addressing in a coherent and
responsible way to the multiple opportunities and demands on forests whilst observing the
limits of what forests can sustainably supply, promoting these principles to other sectors as
the definitive approach to forestry land use management;
Should have as its vision "long-term multifunctional and sustainable forestry and an
innovative forest sector that fully contributes to Europe 2020 Strategy and other 2020 targets,
fulfils present and future social, economic and environmental needs and supports forest-
related livelihoods";
9.    Should facilitate and support measures to integrate sustainable production and consumption
of forest products intő relevant and coherent national measures such as public procurement

policies, guidelines and other instruments, including market based instruments, to promote sustainable forest management.
Should have as political objective the aim of demonstrating/ensuring to society that EU
forests are managed according to SFM principles and on the basis of sound evidence and thus
contribute to balancing the different forest functions and competing demands so as to provide
a basis for forestry and the whole forest-based value chain to be competitive and valuable
contributors to the green economy;
Should provide a strong and broadly based framework that improves the coordination,
cooperation and communication among the Member States, between the Member States and
the Commission, within the Commission and with stakeholders, providing the contribution
from the sector to the Europe 2020 strategy and other 2020 targets;
Should ensure coherence between EU's internal and external policies related to or
affecting forests and support the negotiation of a Legally Binding Agreement on forests in
Europe, facilitating its entry intő force and implementation in the EU, if negotiations are
successful, as well as the implementation of the Oslo "European Forests 2020 Strategy";
Should include a holistic view of all forest-related policies;
Should be called the EU Forest Strategy and should continue targeting in a balanced way
all  forest functions  and facilitating integration  of SFM objectives  and practices intő
mainstream economic, social and environmental policy and decision making in all areas of
EU policy related to forests.
Building on the final report ofits ad hoc Working Group contributing to the development ofa new EU Forest Strategy:
15. Urges the Commission:
To prepare a forest package by early 2013, the proposal for a new EU Forest Strategy acting as an umbrella, and including initiatives on forest information, on wood processing industry and related value chains as well as providing data on the State of EU Forests;
To prepare the new Forest Strategy as a fundamental voluntary forest policy instrument at EU level, building on subsidiarity and respecting national competence that will:
further develop lines of added value at the EU level agreed with MS;
provide policy guidance on certain specified topics;
provide recommendations for actions and
identify other areas where some Member States might wish to further advance;
To build on the WG report and especially on its recommendations and address in the strategy the ten interrelated priorities social benefits, green economy, bioenergy, climate change, forest protection, ecosystem services and biodiversity, research and innovation, forest information and monitoring, international pillar and coordination, cooperation and communication;
To fully utilise the potential of the Standing Forestry Committee (SFC) and other EU forest expert bodies for the preparation within one year of a future forest action plen / framework that sets out specific actions for implementing the future strategy and for addressing the priorities and linkages between internal and international forest related questions;

To include an analysis of existing resources and further investigate how to improve their use and efficiency;
To take this strategy intő consideration when addressing issues related to forests and sustainable forest management.
16 Calls upon Member States and regions
To follow and/or refer to the future EU Forest Strategy and Action Plan for their national/regional plans and programmes;
To use a future EU Forest Strategy in line with this opinion:
to guide and strengthen forest-related measures and other actions arising from EU
initiatives related to forests, in particular support for rural development;
to promote forest management plans or similar equivalent instruments to support the
objectives of the EU forest strategy and the implementation of EU forest related policies;
to help establishing a forest information system based on broad Member States
participation in particular to implement forest related policies at national and international
level with the objective to further improve data availability on the implementation of
SFM.
17. Commits itself:
In line with this opinion, to actively contribute to the development of a future strategy with the intention to implement it;
To support and facilitate its adoption at the highest possible political level;
To further exchange information on the national or regional forest action plans and programmes with the aim of identifying best practices;
18 Finally, invites the Commission, Member States, regions and other relevant actors:
To take intő account, when formulating other related policies and instruments, the information and recommendations provided in this Opinion and in the final reports of the ad hoc working groups of the SFC on the New EU Forest Strategy and on Forest Information and Monitoring.
To further involve stakeholders, in particular forest owners as holders of the resource as well as other key players such as forest managers, forest workers, forest environmentalists and forest-based industries in the consultation process towards the implementation of the strategy and the future action plan / framework.
To communicate broadly the developments of the EU Forest Strategy.