Required Report - public distribution

**Date:** 3/30/2005

**GAIN Report Number:** E35062

E35062

**EU-25**

**Agricultural Situation**

**EU Forest Strategy Criticized, Commission Proposes Action Plan**

**2005**

**Approved by:**

![](media/image1.wmf)Norval E. Francis, Jr.

U.S. Mission to the EU

**Prepared by:**

Karin Bendz

**Report Highlights:**

The European Court of Auditors (ECA) has criticized the EU Forestry
Strategy objectives saying they are often contradictory, expensive and
not delivering significant results.

The European Commission proposes to step up its efforts on forestry and
proposes to prepare an EU Action Plan for sustainable forest management.
The Action Plan is to be presented in 2006.

Includes PSD Changes: No

Includes Trade Matrix: No

Unscheduled Report

Brussels USEU \[BE2\]

\[E3\]

**Court of Auditors Criticize EU Forest Strategy.**

The European Court of Auditors (ECA) has criticized the EU Forestry
strategy objectives, saying they are often contradictory, expensive and
not delivering significant results. The ECA recommends the Commission to
re-examine several parts of the forestry strategy scheme and to do a
review of the afforestation measures. The Afforestation measures are
where farmers can receive EU support for planting forest on agricultural
land. Between 1994-1999 about one million hectares of agricultural land
was afforestated, mainly in the Mediterranean countries.

About 35 percent of the EU is covered with forest and the forest sector
is providing about 2.6 million jobs. The forestry strategy built its
aims on two key concepts: the need for sustainable forest management and
the need for forests to have a multifunctional (ecological, social and
economic) role. The ECA claims that the ecological, social and
economical objectives are often in conflict with each other, and that it
is hard to evaluate the success of the program without an agreed EU-wide
definition of forest.

The European Commission says many of the weaknesses identified by the
ECA are already being dealt with. The Commission also rejected the ECA
statement that a common definition of forest is required in order to
evaluate the success of the forest strategy.

The planned EU spending on forests 2000-2006 is €4,7 billion, half for
afforestation of agricultural land. The Commission has emphasized that,
in the proposals for the post-2006 agenda, it is likely that the
compensation period for income-loss caused by afforestation will be
reduced from 20 to 10 years, to reduce costs.

# European Commission proposes Action Plan for Sustainable Forest Management

In an effort to step up its achievement on forestry the European
Commission is proposing to do so by preparing an EU Action Plan for
Sustainable Forest management. The idea is that an Action Plan would
enable the EU to take on a more pro-active approach to governing the
EU's forests.

The need for the Action Plan has emerged from the review of the
activities implemented in the context of the EU Forestry Strategy since
it's adoption in 1998. In this review it states that there has been
progress in the sustainable management of the forests in EU over the
last years, but the policy context is changing and according to the
Commission, a more pro-active approach to governing the union's forests
is needed in the future.

In total 160 million ha, or about 35 percent of the EU land area is
covered with forests and other wooded land. Approximately 12 percent of
the area is designated as protected forests. Due to the EU afforestation
program and to the natural succession of vegetation, the forest cover in
the EU is increasing, according to the Commission. However, according to
a report from WWF[^1] the lack of protection for Europe's forests is
alarming and there is a dramatic and continuous loss of biodiversity,
forest health, genetic diversity and naturalness today. WWF also claims
in their paper that many of Europe's protected areas are not actually
protected, they are parks that exist on paper only.

The Commission communication highlights that the competitiveness and the
economic viability of forests in the "EU Forestry Model" is under
increasing pressure. There are about 15 million private forest owners in
the EU. These rely largely on wood sales for revenue. At the same time
the forests are crucial for the fulfillment of the EU commitments to
halt the loss of biodiversity and to mitigate climate change.

Sustainable forestry is an important part of the development of the
rural areas in the EU. And the report stresses the importance of good
governance for the protection and sustainable management of forests.
Biotic factors and grazing are main causes of forest damage. Other major
factors affecting the forests are air pollution, storms and forest
fires, mainly in the Mediterranean region where about 0.5 million
hectares of forest or other wooded land are burned every year.

Over the last few years, legislation has been adopted to ensure a more
harmonized implementation of a number of key aspects of EU legislation
on the marketing of forest reproductive material.

The European Commissions aim of the EU Action Plan for sustainable
Forestry Management is to:

● Maintain the tradition of multipurpose forestry in the EU by changing
the management practices that may reduce the economic viability of the
forestry, that are increasingly being challenged.

● Strengthen the coherence between EU policies, and the co-ordination
between the Commission and the Member States, and to establish
monitoring mechanisms for the implementation of the strategy.

● Review and strengthen the consultation structures in forestry at both
Community and national level.

The Confederation of European Forest Owners (CEPF), which is an umbrella
federation of 23 national family forest owners associations, welcomes
the required need for better coordination of forestry relevant policies
and hopes the Action Plan will strengthen the European model of
multifunctional forestry.

The Action Plan will be elaborated in cooperation with the Member States
and stakeholders and is proposed to be presented by the Commission in
2006.

# Action Plan up for Jargon Award

Agra Europe reports that the "Plain English Society" has nominated the
EU Action Plan on Sustainable Forest Management for an award for the
criminal use of "Euro jargon".

According to this report the report contains 21 references to
"strategy", 20 "implementations", 7 "stakeholders" and 6 "consultations"
while the word "tree" fails to merit a single mention.

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Related reports from USEU Brussels:

  ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------ ------------------
  **Report Number**                                            **Title**                            **Date Released**

  E35004                                                       Forest Law Enforcement Governance    07/01/2005
                                                               and Trade (FLEGT)                    

  These reports can be accessed through our website                                                 
  [www.useu.be/agri](http://www.useu.be/agri) or through the                                        
  FAS website                                                                                       
  <http://www.fas.usda.gov/scriptsw/attacherep/default.asp>.                                        
  ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------ ------------------

[^1]: <http://www.panda.org/downloads/forests/stateeuropeforests.pdf>