LULUCF: practical consequences for the forest-based sector

EUSTAFOR, together with a number of organisations of the forest-based sector (EOS, CEPI and CEPF) and with the support of CEI-Bois, are organising a joint workshop on the practical consequences of the recently adopted Regulation for the inclusion of Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) within the 2030 EU Climate and Energy framework. The event will be held on September 25, 2018 at the Tuscany Region EU Office in Brussels.

Main focus will be on the impact of the new Forest Reference Levels to be set by the Member States on the annual harvest levels in European forests and the potential implications for the domestic wood supply in the EU, specifically on the down-stream value chains. The participants will address aspects linked to the Commission’s guidance on the implementation of the LULUCF Regulation and especially the rules for setting up new Forest Reference Levels.

The distinctiveness and specificity of the LULUCF Regulation will then be explained by speakers from France, Poland, Sweden Switzerland, Romania, Finland and Spain. They will describe their respective national orientations for optimizing the sector’s contribution to climate change mitigation while also ensuring the enhancement of the competitiveness of the forest-based industries.

Forests are home to at least 80 percent of the world’s remaining terrestrial biodiversity. Forests and the forest sector can positively contribute to the climate change mitigation and adaptation by removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Sustainable forest management also helps to maintain the fertility of the soil, protect watersheds and reduce the risk of natural disasters. At the same time, forest are an important source of economic growth and employment. Forest-based industries represent about 7% of the EU’s manufacturing GDP. They have a combined production value of €460 billion, with a total added value of €135 billion on a turnover of €485 billion. In 2015, they employed 3.3 million persons across the EU-28, the equivalent of 11 % of the total manufacturing sector (source: Eurostat). Raw material used by the forest-based industries provides income to around 16 million forest owners in the EU.

The Agenda and the registration form can be downloaded from this page

The workshop will be livestreamed here.