USSE is closely following the development of the proposed regulation to establish a monitoring framework for resilient European forests

11 / 03 / 2024

The European Commission published last November 22 the proposed regulation on a monitoring framework for resilient European forests, an initiative that was already announced in the EU Forestry Strategy 2030. The Commission justifies the need for such a regulation on the fact that general information on the state of forests in the EU is fragmented.

The European Commission published last November 22 the proposal for a regulation on a monitoring framework for resilient European forests, an initiative that was already announced in the EU Forest Strategy 2030. The Commission justifies the need for such a regulation on the fact that general information on the state of forests in the EU is fragmented. Data on their environmental, social and ecological value, the pressures they face and the ecosystem services they provide are largely heterogeneous and inconsistent and the EU lacks a common system for collecting long-term, accurate and comparable forest data. Thus, this monitoring proposal aims to create a system for mapping and locating forest units; a record collection framework combining standardized data (European Commission) and harmonized data (National Forest Inventories), as well as an information exchange network and an integrated governance system.

The USSE, as well as CEPF, COPA COGECA, ELO and Eustafor, all landowner organizations, held a meeting on this regulation with the European Commission on January 31. Some issues have raised some concern within the USSE, such as access to data and privacy, the concept of forest unit, how the information collected will be useful for owners, the technical challenges that this new proposal may pose, among other issues, on which we will continue to work and influence during the development of this new legislative proposal. This is an initiative whose legislative process will be interrupted by the European elections to be held in the spring of 2024, which will bring with it a new composition of the European Parliament for the next legislature. Therefore, although this proposal is already beginning to be discussed within the institutions, it will not be until after the elections when it will be possible to deepen the negotiations related to it.

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