cepf-eu.org - Brussels, 3 February 2021
– On Wednesday, 3 February,the main stakeholder organisations representing the forestry sector met with the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, to discussthesector's growing concerns on the way in whichthe implementation of the EU Green Deal currently addressesforestry issues.

Our forestsneed to be responsibly managed, especially in the face of climate changeand its impact on forestholdings. With the Green Deal, forestry issues are being debated ever more intensively in Brussels. Although forest managementis a national competence, the future of our forests is at the heart of manyEUinitiatives, whether it be the Forest Strategy, the Biodiversity Strategy, the CAP or sustainable finance. The European forest sector has welcomed the announcement of the Green Deal and is keento play a key role in the implementation of its main policy objectives and targets. Nevertheless, several recent debates show a worrying lack of understanding of the multifunctional role of forestsand the importance of the work conducted by forest owners and managerson the ground. Often,key EU initiatives and strategies confuseglobal forest-relatedissues with the actual situation of EUforests,overlooking national forest inventory data which provesthesuccessfulimplementation of sustainable forest management within EU. The latest Forest Europe report1on the state of Europe's forests gives clear indicators:the European forest area has increased by 9% over the last 30 years,the area of forests designated for biodiversity conservation has increased by 65% in 20 years,the volume of wood and the weight of carbon stored in European forests hasgrown by 50% over the last 30 years. It is therefore important that the implementation of the EU Green Deal builds upon the proven contribution ofsustainable forest management (SFM) and the multifunctional forestry sectoralready fully operational in the field. The forest sector stakeholders are concerned with certain EU initiatives whichemphasisealmost exclusively theaspects of biodiversity and carbon sequestration while disregarding the balanced three-pillar approach of SFM developed by both the EU and the member statesunder the Forest Europe process. Aconcrete example of such a process is the Taxonomy Regulation and the related first draft delegated act under discussion. Similar approaches can be observed at the discussions related to the implementation of ambitious forest-related targets and objectives of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. As we have triedto demonstrate in a recent campaign, we need to steer clear of myths surrounding forests. In the face of climate change, we must enable the resilience of our forests in order for them to play their full role as carbon absorbers, reservoirs for biodiversity and suppliers of local and sustainable woody biomassthat replace fossil-based materials and further develop the bio-based circular economy in the EU.
However, all this can only happen if the EU Forest Strategy supports forest ownersand managersin managing their forests, including by promoting investments into the maintenance and the training of more than 2.6 million workers in the forest sector2. In addition to a decreasing workforce, it is no secret that the forestry sector will have to face a generational renewal in the coming years3. It is therefore essential that the Green Deal considers the social dimension asbeingequally importantas the environmental and climate-related dimensions. Itis essentialto evaluate the wider impact of the various policy initiativesput forwardand to reward the goodpractices which this vital sectorhas already put in placeto achieve the EU’sobjectives.There will be no viable Forest Strategy post-2020 without forest owners and managers as enablers of a vibrant forest sectorin the EU.
[1] https://foresteurope.org/state-europes-forests-2020/
[2] https://foresteurope.org/state-europes-forests-2020/
[3] https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/3217494/12069644/KS-FK-20-001-EN-N.pdf/a7439b01-671b-80ce-85e4-4d803c44340a?t=1608139005821