See the briefing here.
Europe’s forests are in trouble, and often, policymakers lack the data to help them. The proposed Forest Monitoring Law would address that gap, creating a framework for integrated, satellite-based forest monitoring across the EU, using Copernicus satellite assets the EU public have already bought and paid for.
Unfortunately, reactionary forces in the forest industry have lobbied policymakers to gut the FML. These guys want to keep the EU firmly stuck in the past, using 1950’s approaches of pencil and paper to collect data on forests. This briefing for policymakers explains how anti-science forces in the EU’s Parliament and Council are undermining the FML, and how it could still be saved.
A Forest Monitoring Law for modern times
How the Council & European Parliament proposals weaken the FML
Removing the requirement for Member States to improve reporting
Removing satellite-mapped data
Removing nearly all indicators on biodiversity & resilience
Removing or weakening indicators of forest disturbance, including logging
Removing indicators on disaster risk preparedness & recovery
Weakening indicators on the use of wood for bioenergy
Removing long-term forest planning
What Parliament & Council’s dismantling of the FML proposal means for forests
Increased risk to communities from fires & flooding
Increased forest damage due to absence of spatial data & early warning systems
Lower transparency on how forests are managed
No localised mapping of forest data, only aggregated statistics
Infrequent updates that lag behind forest changes
Undermining Biodiversity Strategy targets by failing to map primary & old-growth forests & monitor forest biodiversity
Failure to monitor how logging affects forests, including primary & old growth
Failure to monitor illegal logging
Lack of information needed to implement & report under laws & strategies
Why do Parliament and the Council want a weak FML?
The usual claims about competence, subsidiarity & costs
Anti-environment politics & forestry lobbying
Agriculture ministries primarily value forests for wood production
Can the FML be rescued?
Minimum requirements for a science-based FML
Inclusion of satellite monitoring
Mapping of forests & forest data across the EU
High resolution data & high frequency of data collection
Inclusion of resilience, biodiversity & ecosystem services indicators required by EU legislation
Conclusions
If the 4 minimum requirements are not met:
MEPs should not support a weak Parliamentary text
The EC may have to choose the least-worst outcome & withdraw the proposal
The Commission could work with JRC, EEA & others to integrate Copernicus & NFI data into the Forest Information System for Europe
Annex 1. Summary of Parliament & Council amendments to the EC’s FML proposal
Annex 2. The proximity of agriculture ministries to the intensive forestry sector
