Commission staff working document - Annex to the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - Addressing the challenges of deforestation and forest degradation to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss {COM(2008) 645 final} {SEC(2008) 2619} {SEC(2008) 2620}
Date: 2008-10-17
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU action, EU environmental policy, climate change, deforestation, environmental monitoring, forest conservation

EN 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 17.10.2008 
SEC(2008) 2618 

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 

ANNEX TO THE 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

Addressing the challenges of deforestation and forest degradation to tackle climate 
change and biodiversity loss 

{COM(2008) 645 final} 
{SEC(2008) 2619} 
{SEC(2008) 2620} 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
 
ANNEX 1 

References 

1. 

COM(2008)  400/2,  Communication  from  the  Commission,  to  the  European 
Parliament,  the  Council,  the  European  Economic  and  Social  Committee  and  the 
Committee of the Regions. 

Public procurement for a better environment  

2. 

COM(2008)19.  Proposal  for  a  Directive  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council on the  

promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources. 

3. 

4. 

COM(2008)16.  Proposal  for  a  Directive  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council amending Directive 2003/87/EC so as to improve and extend the greenhouse 
gas emission allowance trading system of the Community 

Commission Staff Working Paper, SEC(2008) 434, accompanying COM (2008) 177 
final,  

The EU - a global partner for development. Speeding up progress towards the  

Millennium Development Goals.  

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

COPI,  2008  The  Cost  of  Policy  Inaction:  The  case  of  not  meeting  the  2010 
biodiversity target, study for the European Commission, DG Environment. May 2008 

FAO, 
(http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/a0773e/a0773e00.htm). 

2007. 

State 

the 

of 

World’s 

Forest 

2007. 

IPCC, 2007: Climate Change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III 
to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 
[B.  Metz,  O.R.  Davidson,  P.R.  Bosch,  R.  Dave,  L.A.  Meyer  (eds)],  Cambridge 
University Press. 

MEA, 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report - Volume 1: Current State & 
Trends - Chapter 28 Synthesis. (http://www.maweb.org/en/index.aspx) 

EN 

2 

   EN 

 
  
  
 
 
 
 
9. 

10. 

Nabuurs, G.J. et al., 2007: Forestry. In Climate Change 2007 (ref. IPCC, 2007) 

Rudel T. K., O. T. Coomes, E. Moran, F. Achard, A. Angelsen, J. Xu and E. Lambin, 
2005,  

Forest transitions: towards a global understanding of land use change, Global Environmental  

Change 15: 23–31  

11. 

Sukhdev, P et al. 2008. The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity-An interim 
Report.  

(http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/biodiversity/economics/pdf/teeb_report.pdf) 

12. 

Turner,  J.,  Katz,  A.and  Buongiorno,  J.,  2007.  Implications  for  the  New  Zealand 
Wood Products Sector of Trade Distortions due to Illegal Logging. A report prepared 
for the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. 

EN 

3 

   EN 

 
ANNEX 2 

Causes of deforestation 

Broader governance problems 

Underlying  causes  of  deforestation  are  the  lack  of  effective  governance  structures  and  law 
enforcement, and the absence of effective policies to help the poor. Conflicting and unclear 
land-use policies, land-tenure rights and property and usufruct rights give rise to unsustainable 
or illegal logging, thereby contributing to deforestation. In addition, economic benefits from 
forest  conversion  are  often  unevenly  shared,  with  policies  and  land-use  strategies  often 
reducing access to the rural communities that depend on forests. 

Increased pressure on the global cultivated area 

Land is a limited resource. Crop and livestock production, mining and urban development all 
require land. The growth in the world's population and increased meat and dairy consumption 
in developing countries are creating greater demand for agricultural commodities. At the same 
time,  weather  events  linked  to  climate  change, political  instability in certain  regions,  higher 
energy prices, the emergence of new markets for biofuels and under-investment in agricultural 
research and production have also contributed to rising food prices. In addition, higher energy 
costs have contributed to the expansion of mining activities in forests. This situation translates 
into higher demand for productive land, which puts more pressure on forests.  

Biofuels are new sources of demand for agricultural production. The European Commission 
has proposed sustainability criteria to avoid the potential negative impact on deforestation. It 
is  also  promoting  second  generation  biofuels,  which  should  produce  more  energy  per  unit 
area. The impact of the overall levels of production of and demand for biofuels on land use, 
including forest cover, will be monitored closely.  

Harvesting of forest products 

Commercial  or  subsistence  exploitation  of  forests  does  not  compromise  the  long-term 
existence  of  forests  provided  it  is  sustainable  and  legal.  However,  if  there  is  no  effective 
regulation, it is often more profitable in the short term to harvest trees without practising any 
form of forest management. In certain parts of the world, particularly Africa, forests are lost 
because fuel wood is harvested at unsustainable levels.  

Lack of valuation of forest ecosystem services and market failures 

The  products  and  services  provided  by  forests  include  medicinal  plants  for  local  use,  water 
regulation, slope stabilisation, and climate mitigation and adaptation functions. Major benefits 
of  forest  conservation  and  sustainable  forest  management  are  externalities.  Forest  owners 
rarely receive payment for conserving and providing forest services, so forests tend to be less 
attractive economically than other types of land use.  

EN 

4 

   EN 

 
Sources of funding in addition to revenue from auctioning of allowances 

ANNEX 3 

The Global Climate Change Alliance 

The Global Climate Change Alliance, launched by the Commission in 2007, is intended to be 
a  platform  for  enhanced  dialogue  and  increased  cooperation  between  the  EU  and  the  poor 
developing  countries  most  vulnerable  to  climate  change,  in  particular  the  Least  Developed 
Countries  and  Small  Island  Developing  States.  It  is  aimed  primarily  at  supporting  and 
integrating climate adaptation into poverty reduction strategies. The sum of €50 million has 
been  earmarked  by  the  Commission  for  the  period  2008-2010.  The  reduction  of  emissions 
from deforestation is one of its priorities. 

Pooling efforts at EU level on Official Development Aid allocated to forestry 

EU forest aid continues to be insufficiently coordinated. With about €40 million/year of ODA 
devoted to forestry, the efforts made by the Commission and many Member States can only 
make a difference if there is close coordination between the EU donors and other donors. The 
current  fragmented  approach  is  an  impediment  to  effectiveness.  Efforts  should  also  better 
reflect  the  particular  forest  challenges  in  the  countries  concerned.  Enhanced  donor 
coordination  would  leverage  additional  assistance  from  other  actors,  including  the  private 
sector. 

EU contributions to bilateral and multilateral initiatives 

The EU should remain at the forefront of the development of innovative funding mechanisms. 
Importantly  the  EU  (European  Commission  and  Member  States)  is  the  major  contributor  to 
the World Bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility1, with more than 80% of the total. The 
Facility is an advanced multilateral initiative to address deforestation in the context of climate 
change. It tests designs for performance-based systems to reduce deforestation in developing 
countries and ways to generate funding for the protection of tropical forests. 

1 

Launched  in  June  2008,  the  US$  300  million  Forest  Carbon  Partnership  Facility  will  support  pilot 
projects  using  a  system  of  policy  approaches  and  performance-based  payments.  It  consists  of  a 
Readiness Fund, mainly for capacity building, and a Carbon Fund, for trading of emission reductions 

EN 

5 

   EN