In a recent plenary session, the European Parliament has adopted the COM AGRI Report prepared by MEP Petri Sarvamaa on the new “European Forest Strategy – the way forward”. The EU should promote forest management models that seek to ensure forests are environmentally, societally and economically sustainable, MEPs said on Thursday.

According to the MEPs, the Commission’s post-2020 EU Forest Strategy, which is expected to be published at the beginning of 2021, should be independent and self-standing, properly aligned with the European Green Deal, and ensure that forests can continue to play a multifunctional role. In specific, the new Strategy should:

• support sustainable forest management and responsible owners
• reinforce disaster resilience and early warning mechanisms to prevent forest fires
• tackle imports of illegally-felled wood

The plenary vote highlighted the crucial role of forests in achieving the ambitious objectives of the European Green Deal, including climate neutrality by 2050. The result sent a positive signal to the forest owners and managers as well as the whole forestry value chain.

References:

Future EU Forest strategy: High-quality management of EU forests and woodlands
European Parliament paves the way for the Commission to propose an ambitious and self-standing EU Forestry strategy