Proposal for a Regulation on a Forest Monitoring Framework
date: 28/01/2024
Forests play a key role in responding to climate change, preserving and restoring biodiversity, safeguarding health, ensuring water resilience and developing the bio-economy. However, Europe's forests suffer from many different pressures, including climate change and unsustainable human activity, and often information on European forests is incomplete or outdated.
Better monitoring will enable action to make forests more resistant to the cross-border threats of pests, droughts and wildfires that are exacerbated by climate change, enable new business models such as carbon farming, and support compliance with agreed EU legislation. Ultimately, it will help strengthen the capacity of forests to fulfil their multiple environmental and socio-economic functions, including their role as natural carbon sinks.
The objectives of the proposed law are to:
- create a comprehensive knowledge base on forests so EU countries, forest owners and forest managers can take swift and action for ensuring forest resilience and to
- offer better data and knowledge for policy making and implementation, including up-to-date information on natural disturbances and forest disasters.
The monitoring framework will enable the collection and sharing of timely and comparable forest data obtained through a combination of Earth Observation technology and ground measurements. Building on existing national efforts, the framework will offer better data and knowledge for decision making and policy implementation, including more up-to-date information on natural disturbances and forest disasters across Member States. The framework will help to create an integrated forest governance, by ensuring cooperation among Member States, and by encouraging them to set up long-term forest plans, taking into account all the relevant policy dimensions and the multi-functionality of forests.
The proposal does not introduce new direct administrative requirements for businesses, forest owners and foresters.
On the other hand, the framework will bring economic benefits as it will support forest managers to market their ecosystem services, such as carbon removals, under the EU Carbon Removal Certification Framework. Based on more credible and accessible data, forest managers and forest owners will be able to develop new business opportunities that will provide additional income, while at the same time scaling up carbon farming and contributing to climate mitigation and adaptation. The new law will also support a new market for providers of digital monitoring services, including a high number of SMEs and innovative start-ups.
The proposed Forest Monitoring Framework is to strengthen the Forest Information System for Europe (FISE) as the first common database on forest information in Europe. This web portal provides tailor-made information to national, EU and international policymakers, experts working in the forest industry, forest owners and conservationists, as well as scientists and researchers. FISE also draws data and information from the EU’s Earth observation and monitoring programme Copernicus.
As next steps, the European Parliament and the Council will discuss the proposal in the usual legislative procedure.