Consultation within the EU Forest Strategy for 2030
The European Commission launches a public consultation towards strategic plans and monitorization of forests, in the EU Forest Strategy for 2030
According to Eurostat, in 2021 43,5% of the European Union’s land space was covered by forests and other wooded lands. These forests represent not only a huge economic source for part of human industries, but are also essential for our health. Oxygen, biodiversity, soil health or water, among other things, depend a lot on forests and wooded lands. They have been very important for the continent in the past, but they are a key factor for the future.
In order to better monitor European forests, a new consultation has been released on the upcoming legislative proposal for a new EU framework for forest monitoring and strategic plans. The goal is to provide the EU with an open-access, detailed EU-wide forest observation framework. All stakeholders are invited to share their opinion from this moment until November 17th 2022.
If you want to give your opinion, you can do it here.
New EU Forest Strategy
This quote comes from the introduction of the New EU Forest Strategy for 2030, released last year on July 16th, 2021. But after a hot summer all over Europe in 2022, with drought and fires all over the continent, it is even more relevant and present. This strategy has several milestones to reach by 2030, including guidelines, toolkits, a tree monitoring platform, identification of stakeholders and results.
Unlocking the potential of forests for the future and recognising their central and multi-functional role alongside with foresters and the entire forest-based value chain is key to achieve a climate-neutral economy by 2050. Also, reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions of at least 55% in 2030, as set in the European Climate Law, is only possible by growing healthy, diverse and resilient forests, and agreeing internationally on a way to protect and restore them. The EU Forest Strategy is an initiative built on the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 –in the framework of the European Green Deal –, which shares some of these objectives, as the protection of forests is key to foster biodiversity.
These are the main goals of the EU Forest strategy:
- Promoting the sustainable forest bioeconomy for long-lived wood products
- Ensuring sustainable use of wood-based resources for bioenergy
- Promoting non-wood forest-based bioeconomy, including ecotourism
- Developing skills and empowering people for sustainable forest-based bioeconomy
- Protecting EU’s last remaining primary and old-growth forests
- Ensuring forest restoration and reinforced sustainable forest management for climate adaptation and forest resilience
- Re- and afforestation of biodiverse forests, including by planting 3 billion additional trees by 2030
- Providing financial incentives for forest owners and managers for improving the quantity and quality of EU forests
In this framework, one of the main priorities of the strategy lies on accurately monitoring forests. That is why the consultation period has been opened for all stakeholders to share their thoughts.
At BeonNat we contribute to a better and more resilient continent with our work. Restoring marginal lands brings soil health and biodiversity; and using agroforestry waste as a source of raw materials helps creating a European strong bioeconomy.
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