07/03/2022
While forest managers and owners support the general objective of the EU initiative to curb global deforestation caused by EU consumption of certain products and commodities, we remain convinced that this should be achieved by strengthening existing governance frameworks for active and sustainable forest management.
08/12/2021
European forest owners and managers welcome the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) Opinion on the EU Forest Strategy for 2030 adopted today. The Opinion draws conclusions similar to those expressed by the forest sector and Member States in the European Council. It underlines the necessity for a holistic and balanced approach to forests and their management as well as the key role of European forest owners and managers in the Strategy.
05/10/2021
European forest owners and managers were among the most active and supportive of a new EU Forest Strategy under the European Green Deal. Indeed, we were deeply convinced that the strategy was needed to support the role of forests’ multiple functions, to better address the challenges and opportunities of the sector and to achieve new Green Deal objectives through a consistent and well-coordinated framework at EU level. With the final version of the strategy published in July these hopes have been dashed. This paper aims to explain the main reasons why European forest owners and managers are highly worried about the strategy and deem it inadequate. This paper also aims to raise some initial questions and remarks with regards to the implementation of this Strategy.
06/07/2021
The current proposed revision of the REDII sustainability criteria comes at a time when the transposition of the 2018 recast Directive has yet to be completed by most Member States. Delays in the adoption of the Operational Guidance for forest biomass and other secondary legislation, leave the sector increasingly concerned about the utter lack of clarity surrounding the regulatory environment on the EU’s most important source of renewable energy.
24/06/2021
While the future EU Forest Strategy post-2020 is expected to be published on 20 July, the EU forest and forest-based sector has very deep concerns about the draft which is currently in inter-service consultation within the European Commission. The views expressed by the sector over the last months have, unfortunately, not been taken into consideration in the draft. In addition, the calls from the European Parliament and Council regarding the new Strategy appear to have been overlooked.
28/01/2021
Over the last years, the EU and international forest policy frameworks have strongly evolved and the crucial role of forests and the forest-based sector is widely recognized by the EU Green Deal, among others. EUSTAFOR strongly believes the future Strategy should serve as a tool to reconcile other forest-related policies so that the demands placed on forests by policymakers neither diminish their multifunctional character nor allow one objective to dominate all others. Ten policy messages are proposed as the input from SFMOs to the ongoing debate on the key objectives of the EU FS post-2020.
| 08/12/2021 | Joint Statement: The EESC calls for coherence, certainty and clarity from the new EU Forest Strategy for 2030 |
| 05/10/2021 | Joint Position Paper: The New EU Forest Strategy for 2030 – Position of European Forest Owners and Managers |
| 24/06/2021 | Joint statement: Draft new EU Forest Strategy: time to consider the opinion of EU forest and forest-based sector |
| 28/01/2021 | EUSTAFOR POSITION PAPER ON THE EU FOREST STRATEGY POST-2020 |
