Brussels, 29/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - Adopting a report on Tuesday 28 April (566 votes in favour, 66 against, and 45 abstentions) that analyses the European Commission's communication on forests, the European Parliament believes that the EU's new forestry strategy must focus on the sustainable management of forests, promote the efficient use of their unprocessed products, and increase the competitiveness of the forestry industry in order to create jobs.
“The new strategy must promote the sustainable use of timber and other forest materials without adding red tape for the forest owners and sector”, said rapporteur Elisabeth Köstinger (EPP, Austria).
Adopting in plenary the amendments from the environment committee (see EUROPE 11283), the European Parliament underlines that the EU has agreed that by 2020 the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services, including pollination, must be halted. Ecosystems and their services must therefore be maintained and at least 15% of degraded ecosystems restored. The Parliament states that the EU has also agreed that forest management must be sustainable, that forests, their biodiversity and the services they provide must be protected and, as far as feasible, enhanced, and that the resilience of forests to climate change, fires, storms, pests and diseases must be improved. In order to achieve this, it is therefore necessary to develop and implement a new EU strategy for forests that addresses the multiple demands on, and benefits of, forests and contributes to a more strategic approach to protecting and enhancing forests, including through sustainable forest management, according to the amendment adopted.
The member states are asked to design their forestry policies in such a way as to take full account of the importance of forests in terms of protecting biodiversity, preventing soil erosion, ensuring carbon sequestration and air purification and maintaining the water cycle.
The Parliament underlines the need to clarify urgently the greenhouse impacts of the various uses of forest biomass for energy and to identify the uses that can achieve the greatest mitigation benefits within policy-relevant timeframes. (Lionel Changeur)