Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the Communication from the Commission to the Council and to the European Parliament Reporting on the implementation of the EU Forestry Strategy
Date: 2005-11-17
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: European forestry policy, action programme, afforestation, forest conservation, sustainable forest management, wood industry

C 115/84

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

16.5.2006

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the Communication from the Commission to the
Council and to the European Parliament Reporting on the implementation of the EU Forestry
Strategy

(2006/C 115/19)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

HAVING REGARD TO the Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European
Parliament — Reporting on the implementation of the EU Forestry Strategy COM (2005) 84 final;

HAVING REGARD TO the decision by the Commission on 17 March 2005, acting under the first para-
graph of Article 265 of the Treaty establishing the European Community to consult the Committee of the
Regions on the matter;

HAVING REGARD TO the decision taken by its bureau on 16 November 2004 to instruct the Commis-
sion for Sustainable Development to prepare an opinion on the subject;

HAVING REGARD TO the Council resolution of 15 December 1998 on a forestry strategy for the Euro-
pean Union;

HAVING REGARD TO its opinion of 19 November 1997 on Management, use and protection of forests in
the EU (CdR 268/1997) (1);

HAVING REGARD TO its opinion of 18 November 1999 on the Communication from the Commission
to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the
Regions on a forestry strategy for the European Union (CdR 184/199) (2);

HAVING REGARD TO its opinion of 12 February 2003 on the Proposal for a European Parliament and
Council Regulation concerning monitoring of forests and environmental interactions in the Community
(Forest Focus) (CdR 345/2002) (3);

HAVING REGARD TO its draft opinion (CdR 213/2005 rev. 1) adopted on 6 October 2005 by the
Commission for Sustainable Development (rapporteur: Mr Enrico Borghi, Member of Vigogna Municipal
Council (IT/ALDE));

adopted the following opinion at its 62nd plenary session, held on 16 and 17 November 2005
(meeting of 17 November):

1. The Committee of the Regions' views

— believes that the strategy should be repositioned within the

‘newly emerging policy context’;

The Committee of the Regions

is pleased that the Commission,

1.1
in response to the
Council Resolution of 15 December 1998, has prepared an
the forestry
assessment
strategy;

the implementation of

report of

1.2
warmly welcomes the fact that all the Community insti-
tutions are currently reviewing the document, which is indica-
tive of the interest that the forestry issue has generated on an
increasingly wider scale;

1.3

notes that the Commission:

— has not drawn explicit conclusions from the strategy's

results;

— has confirmed the continuing validity of the principles and
key elements of the strategy: sustainable forestry manage-
ment, the multifunctional role of forests and a reference to
national forest programmes;

(1) OJ C 64 of 27.2.1998, p. 25.
(2) OJ C 57 of 29.2.2000, p. 96.
(3) OJ C 128 of 29.5.2003, p. 41.

— has proposed the development of a European Action Plan
for sustainable forest management and a review of the
existing instruments to facilitate coordination and coopera-
tion between the various sectoral policies which affect
forestry, and a review of the role the Standing Forestry
Committee;

emphasises that the current EU Treaty — and the new
1.4
constitutional Treaty — make no provisions for a common
forestry policy and do not include timber among agricultural
products; this means that the EU has to rely on coordination
and environmental policy instruments, and — within the
framework of agricultural regulation — forestry initiatives,
given that the Commission has not chosen to exercise its right
to initiate legislation;

1.5
takes note, however, of the Commission's proposal to
pursue the development of the strategy, with reference to the
Lisbon and Gothenburg strategies, by creating a European
action plan for sustainable forest management, as it believes it
can achieve better formatted and clearer instruments which
would be more readily applied in the various Member States
than at present;

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Official Journal of the European Union

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as far as the global development of

1.6
the European
strategy is concerned, expresses satisfaction with the exhaus-
tive list of existing documents and agreements, but notes that
the subsidiarity principle is applicable here, too. This therefore
requires either the ratification of international agreements by
the Member States or the development of coordination arrange-
ments between the community bodies;

1.12
considers it useful to continue and step up action to
promote the use of low-value wood by-products and wood
residue, and wood grown in plantations for energy-supply
purposes, for the production of heat and energy in neigh-
bouring areas with a view to using alternative flammable mate-
rials;

1.7
believes that as in the case of water, woodland and
forests (the relationship between the two elements could not be
more clear) are of global strategic importance and should be
subject to a Community policy rather than be the sum of many
parts that do not slot together easily to form a common, clear-
cut instrument, particularly given the link between deforesta-
tion and the flooding it causes.

believes that

1.13
the future action plan must provide
support for the various forestry organisations — land owner-
ship, use — taking particular care to consolidate, or rather
restructure some sectors of the wood industry; at the same
time, forestry associations should be promoted and supported;

Aspects of the forestry strategy

The Committee of the Regions

1.8
considers that so far the forest/wood relationship has
not been adequately addressed by Community economic devel-
opment policies, so much so that, notwithstanding the fact
that, cumulatively, they have created jobs and a multitude of
businesses across the wood industry, it is considered to be a
marginal sector;

1.9
considers it necessary that the use of the different
qualities of wood produced in Europe, including wood grown
in plantations for energy-supply purposes, should be addressed
with a long-term Community strategy. In order to promote the
use of wood, information and communication projects must be
developed; these would illustrate the technical characteristics of
wood and innovative ways of using it, with a view to replacing
other materials whose cumulative costs,
including disposal
once the work is finished, are becoming increasingly burden-
some;

1.10
considers the need to use economic development poli-
cies to give a boost to other forestry products besides wood;
some of these are already mentioned in the report, such as
cork, resins, medicinal plants, mushrooms and berries, while
others are not, such as hunting, beekeeping, pine nuts, chest-
nuts and herbs;

supports the development of

1.11
forestry certification,
which must become a means by which producers can trade
their wood in the internal market, thereby creating an element
of competition that can be perceived by users and by the
general public. The certification systems should remain volun-
tary and procedures should be framed by the various organisa-
interfere by
tions requesting them. The state should not
imposing regulations, with the exception of those that are
necessary for ensuring transparency and preventing the disse-
mination of fraudulent information;

takes note of

the much greater awareness of

the
1.14
multifunctional role of forests and woodland which,
in the
majority of cases however, is not reflected to its full potential
in the economies of the areas in question or in local incomes;
in many cases owners must deal with the
on the contrary,
constraints and limitations set by the authorities. This problem
has not been remedied and cohesion and rural development
policies have not yet managed to incentivise or adequately
promote the forest economy. In order to remedy the situation,
at least in part, it is important to adopt the measures linking
forest policy and rural development contained in Commission
proposal COM(2004) 490 final;

1.15
believes that the Lisbon and Gothenburg objectives
for more and better jobs and ever greater social cohesion
should be given sufficient consideration when drafting the
action plan, with regard to both forest industry workers and
the areas concerned;

the action plan should
believes it necessary that
1.16
support
forestry
the idea of having a high proportion of
experts who would be highly adept at furthering the develop-
ment of forestry. The experts would also be able to organise
and provide support for the forest industry and owner and
market operator associations. The plan must also provide for
programmes and initiatives to ensure that
industry
employees have adequate opportunities to advance in their
career and receive the necessary training;

forest

forestry
asserts that sustainable forest management,
1.17
and environmental legislation and the framing and implementa-
tion of programmes must be supported by accurate informa-
tion and knowledge about the areas concerned in order to
ensure the full cooperation of local inhabitants and the social
and cultural growth of their communities;

supports the FLEGT initiatives to tackle illegal logging
1.18
and ensure that international agreements are respected, calls
for their continuation and hopes that they will receive full legal
implementation;

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1.19
calls on the Community institutions to launch initia-
tives to protect European producers from unfair competition
from products deriving from areas which do not guarantee the
protection of workers and local indigenous populations, who
are often victims of blatant exploitation;

1.27
reiterates the need for the action plan to include
precise guidelines to protect woodland and forests from fires,
pollution and biotic agents and to highlight the fact that forests
can help prevent landslides, avalanches and floods;

confirms its support for the EU's environmental poli-
1.20
cies on forests and welcomes the fact that Europe's protected
areas are consistently increasing, as well as the measures taken
to protect biodiversity and combat desertification;

1.21 welcomes the fact
increasingly shaping the environmental
society and that Community measures have
towards these positive results;

that environmental policies are
legacy of European
contributed

1.22
emphasises that the action plan must promote the
conversion of forest formations with a view to making them
more multifunctional, promoting biodiversity, helping create a
distinctive landscape and, more importantly, protecting water
resources and air quality. In any event, the sustainable forest
management principles established in Rio de Janeiro and stra-
tegic guidelines designed to adapt forest formations and the
forest industry as a whole to climate change must be imple-
mented;

is concerned about the environmental damage that
1.23
can be caused by forestry operations and ancillary activities in
environmentally sensitive areas. Peat uplands,
in particular,
need special protection;

1.28
believes that in tax Member States have a powerful
instrument with which to develop and promote the appropriate
forest policy proposals and guidelines, particularly those
dealing with the formation of associations or having social and
environmental significance. The action plan could provide
information on the developments underway in the various
Member States, and facilitate synergies.

2. The Committee of the Regions' recommendations

The Committee of the Regions

2.1
suggests that every avenue be explored to establish a
legal basis for the Community forest strategy, given that the
issue is now recognised as being of global importance;

2.2
calls for all the Community institutions to ensure that
the Commission's proposal, provided that it is not amended, is
rapidly implemented, thereby ensuring that the future plan will
not just be a blueprint for the Member States, but will also
identify specific responsibilities and resources for its implemen-
tation;

1.24
believes that it is essential to incorporate scientific
and technological research initiatives in the plan, particularly
on:

2.3
believes that the EU plan should be adopted with the
knowledge that national forest plans will be framed within a
fixed time frame and that they will take on board the provi-
sions set out in the Community plan;

— innovative uses of wood and other wooden materials, espe-

cially in the construction industry;

— updating forestry vehicles and technologies;

— forest management with a view to achieving multifunction-

ality;

1.25
believes that the most pressing issues for research are
forestation schemes, the restoration of forest top-soils through
afforestation, and forest management with a view to identifying
ways of enhancing carbon sequestration in the medium- and
research fronts need to be adequately
long-term. These
addressed in the Seventh Framework Programme, taking into
account the various environmental and climatic characteristics
of individual European regions;

that

trusts

the action plan will provide

for a
1.26
programme of EU-wide long-term initiatives
to
enhance the public's understanding of the various aspects and
benefits of Community forests; it especially calls for informa-
tion campaigns for the general public, and more specifically,
for young people with organised trips to protected areas, forest
industry sites and firms that use wood as raw material;

in order

2.4
proposes that the action plan should set out proposals
for the promotion of the various sectors of the forest industry,
to be applied in the Member States, and provide, for a set of
incentives designed to ensure the proper functioning of the
industry,
that provide low or no
forests
economic return, the setting up of owner and tenant associa-
tions under the guidance of forestry experts, the development
and follow-up of projects, initiatives, social, environmental and
forest protection services, on condition that these are covered
by regional and local authority programmes;

the upkeep of

with a view to securing feasible global agreements,
2.5
urges full commitment to framing a new international forestry
agreement, which by implementing the Council's conclusions
of 26 April 2005, would be applicable world wide as regards
sustainable management;

2.6
would once again recommend that maximum priority
be given to the relationship between forest activity and wood-
based industries, marketing the various types of European
wood and to the support of the whole forest industry — which
calls for maximum coordination between Commission depart-
ments;

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for

calls

2.7
energy
the potential uses of
produced in forestry to be improved and further developed.
These should be better integrated in the Commission Strategy
on renewable energy, so as to grant forestry operators specific
benefits;

renewable

2.8
considers it is necessary that the plan should address
the environmental, tourist, cultural and social services provided
by woodland and forests so that they can be appreciated on
their own merits, and provide economic assessment criteria,
with a view to encouraging owners and managers to bring
these services to the market. Where this market does not exist,
the plan should propose various methods and measures to
ensure that the calculated environmental benefit translates into
higher income for the owner or manager of the property;

2.9
calls for the plan to ensure that projects funded by the
authorities can be implemented by the forest owner and manu-
facturer organisations, if they are willing and able so to do;

2.10
believes it is essential that the plan should include key
elements which would be useful to the Member States and
other authorities for re-examining current legislation, certain
aspects of which certainly hinder the implementation of Com-
munity goals; measures to simplify administrative procedures at
all levels are also required;

Brussels, 17 November 2005.

2.11
endorses the Commission's proposal to review the
role of the Standing Forestry Committee so that it is in a posi-
tion to enable it to help frame and implement the plan or to
maintain strong, influential relations with the Member States;

2.12
feels it essential that the administrative structures and
staff at the Commission dealing with forestry matters should be
strengthened so that the EU action plan can be implemented
effectively;

proposes that

2.13
the Commission and Member States
should create a forest science and technology forum which
would bring together representatives of universities, research
centres and forest expert groups in order that they may build
on their combined expertise relating to the conditions and
types of EU forests and the problems facing them, and to
initiatives and scientific and technological research
suggest
programmes:
the forum's work must be coordinated and
financed by the Commission;

2.14
in view of the strategic relevance of forest policy, and
in consideration of the fact that forestry issues fall within the
competence of regional and local authorities, it asks that the
proposed plan be submitted to this Committee for its opinion.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Peter STRAUB