10 -11 - 2011 - Forestry is an integral part of rural development and support for sustainable and climate friendly land use should encompass forest area development and sustainable management of forests. During the 2007-2013 programming period a variety of measures covered different types of support for forestry investments and management.
In the interest of simplification but also of allowing beneficiaries to design and realise integrated projects with increased added value, a single measure should cover all types of support for forestry investments and management. This measure should cover the extension and improvement of forest resources through afforestation of land and creation of agro-forestry systems combining extensive agriculture with forestry systems, restoration of forests damaged by fire or other natural disasters and relevant prevention measures, investments in new forestry technologies and in the processing
and marketing of forest products aimed at improving the economic and environmental performance of forest holders and non remunerative investments which improve ecosystem and climate resilience and environmental value of forest ecosystems.
Support should avoid distorting competition and be market neutral. As a result limitations should be imposed relating to the size and legal status of beneficiaries.
Preventive actions against fires should be in areas classified by Member States as medium or high fire risk. All preventive actions should be part of a forest protection plan. The occurrence of a natural disaster in the case of action for the restoration of damaged forest potential should be subject to the formal recognition by a scientific public organisation. The forestry measure should be adopted in the light of undertakings given by the Union and the Member States at international level, and be based on Member States’ national or sub-national forest plans or equivalent instruments which should take into account the commitments made in the Ministerial Conferences on the Protection of Forests in Europe. It should contribute to the implementation of the Union Forestry Strategy16. In order to ensure that afforestation of agricultural land is in line with the aims of environmental policy the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty should be delegated to the Commission in respect of the definition of certain minimum environmental requirements.