FERN’s aim is to push for forestry practice and conservation in Europe which halt biodiversity loss and protect important habitats.
FERN’s analysis: Of all ecosystems, forests are home to the largest number of species on the continent and provide important environmental functions, such as the conservation of biodiversity and the protection of water and soil. In the EU, forests and other wooded land now cover 155 million ha and 21 million ha respectively (more than 42 per cent of the EU land area). The majority of these forests consist of semi-natural stands and plantations and only about 5 per cent of the forests are “natural or undisturbed by human activity”. Thirty per cent of pan-European forests are now dominated by one single tree species, 50 per cent are forests of 2 or 3 species. About 87 per cent of European forests (excluding the Russian Federation) are even aged (MCPFE, State of European forests 2007).
EU powers over forest management in Member States are limited, and consequently, policies affecting forests are found under a range of topics such as environment, rural development, industry, trade, etc. However, these policies are often not coherent and are not effective enough to guarantee improved forest management and increased forest protection.
To learn more about this campaign: the best documents to read is Funding forests into the future
Though EU policy aims to give equal weight to the 'commercial interests' versus 'ecological interests' of forests, in practice, commercial interests have dominated. This is concerning given that forests can help mitigate the effects of climate change, but are under threat from climate change itself.
