EUSTAFOR and other stakeholders meet with the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski

On Wednesday, 3 February, the main stakeholder organisations representing the forestry sector, including EUSTAFOR, met with the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, to discuss the sector’s growing concerns on the way in which the implementation of the EU Green Deal currently addresses forestry issues.

At the meeting, the stakeholders underlined that European forests need to be responsibly managed, especially in the face of climate change and its impact on forest holdings. They expressed their worries over the lack of understanding of the multifunctional role of forests and the importance of the work conducted by forest owners and managers on the ground.

Forest owners and managers are also concerned about certain EU initiatives which emphasise almost exclusively the aspects of biodiversity and carbon sequestration while disregarding the balanced three-pillar approach of SFM.

They stressed that the implementation of the EU Green Deal must build upon the proven contribution of sustainable forest management (SFM) and the multifunctional forestry sector already fully operational in the field.