In adopting the draft non-legislative resolution (by 36 votes in favour, eight against and four abstentions) by Petri Sarvamaa (EPP, Finland) over the EU Forest Strategy, the European Parliament Agriculture Committee emphasised on Monday (7 September) that the EU needs an ambitious, independent and self-standing post-2020 forestry strategy.
The new strategy, due to be revealed by the Commission at the beginning of 2021, should be aligned with the ‘European Green Deal’ and the associated ‘Farm to Fork’ and ‘biodiversity’ strategies, say MEPs.
In their view, sustainable forest management should be strengthened, but in a balanced way, in order to improve the ecological condition of forests and increase their adaptability to changing climatic conditions.
MEPs are also calling for the integration of nature conservation into sustainable forest management, without enlarging protected areas, and the inclusion of sustainable forest management in future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) strategic plans. They would also like to see new specific aid granted to Natura 2000 areas.
Only sustainable forest management, which places equal focus on the social, environmental and economic benefits of the forest, combined with adequate funding and compensation mechanisms, can increase resilience and adaptive capacity of forests and help the forest sector stay economically viable and environmentally sound, states the draft report.
The vote in the European Parliament plenary session will take place in October. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)