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Campaigns

Bioenergy

FERN’s aim is to achieve EU energy policies that enable the EU to meet its rural development objectives, biodiversity targets and climate objectives.

 

FERN’s analysis: Whilst the need to reduce our use of and dependence on fossil fuels is clear, we must be careful that we don’t come up with a solution that causes more of a problem. Biomass has always been an important source of energy, but whether it is a 'renewable' energy source, depends on how it is produced. The EU's current energy policies will give biomass production for energy purposes a significant boost. The danger is that this will not contribute to a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, but will lead to many negative environmental and social impacts. FERN believes that the utmost effort should be put into reducing energy consumption, and while biomass can play a part of the future energy mix, it should only be considered under certain conditions.  

Carbon Trading

FERN’s aim is to move the climate debate beyond carbon trading and to support communities faced with carbon offset projects.


FERN’s analysis: The European Commission has described climate change as “one of the greatest environmental, social and economic threats facing the planet”. FERN believes that to attempt to combat such a threat with a market mechanism designed to allow emissions in one place to continue on the back of a claimed reduction in another place is foolish. Reductions need to happen everywhere, particularly in industrialised countries. And they need to happen now. We should not be spending time, money and effort putting in place the infrastructure for a new global carbon trading scheme at the expense of investment in genuine emission reductions and establishing low carbon energy and transport infrastructures. 

Certification and Procurement

FERN’s aim is to encourage certification schemes to implement standards which recognise forest peoples’ rights and improve forestry practices and legislation. Our work on timber procurement aims to push the EU and Member States to consider certification, rights and forestry practices in their procurement policies.

 

FERN’s analysis: Certification is now a mainstream issue that can affect the decisions behind virtually every item we buy. However, when it comes to timber, there are serious problems translating this into improvements on the ground. Certification schemes are often dominated by the forestry industry or forest owners and even if this is not the case, certification bodies are increasingly certifying operations with very poor forest management practices that don’t recognise the rights of local communities. 

Development Aid

FERN’s aim is to improve the quality of EC aid so it contributes to the protection of forests and recognises the rights of forest peoples.

FERN’s analysis: The European Union as a whole is the world’s largest donor, providing 55 per cent of all global development assistance. The European Community’s (EC) development assistance, managed by the European Commission makes up one-fifth of the EU’s total aid budget. Whilst EC development aid has very positive aims, by not taking into account the importance of a healthy environment, programmes can actually lead to increased poverty by devastating the environment on which poor people depend. Integration of environmental and social analyses into the planning and implementation stages of all EC aid programmes is therefore essential.

 

What FERN is doing: FERN has been working on this issue since 1995 and after years of campaigning, EC country environmental profiles (reports analysing the country's environmental situation) must now accompany all EC aid programmes to ensure ecological considerations and the rights of local communities and indigenous peoples are taken into account. FERN and our partners now concentrate our activities on monitoring the implementation of these policies. 

European Forests

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).

Forest Law and Governance (FLEGT)

FERN’s aim is to work with partners to improve forest governance and strengthen tenure rights of local communities by using the EU FLEGT process, which also aims to control the import of illegal timber in the EU.

Forests and climate

FERN’s aim is for an EU commitment to halting forest loss in a way that ensures forest peoples’ rights and is not based on carbon offsets.

FERN’s analysis: Initiatives which focus on reducing deforestation are rightly deemed as urgent, but there is a real danger that the focus on carbon will distract from dealing with the real drivers of deforestation. This is particularly true for initiatives aimed at reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD). They could easily end up delaying the necessary transition to low carbon economies if they allow industrialised countries to ‘offset’ their fossil fuel emissions. This is because at best, offsetting moves emissions around, it is not designed to actually reduce emissions. See FERN’s carbon trading campaign for analysis of the flaws in offsetting.  FERN also shares the concern that as forests gain in monetary value as a result of the international REDD debates, forest peoples' rights are increasingly violated. Already incidents abound where private investors buy up forested land and national governments assert their perceived rights over forest lands to the detriment of local communities, in order to benefit from forest carbon financing.

Trade and investment

FERN works towards EU trade and investment policies that do not subsidise climate change and ensure strict financing rules are in place for institutions such as Export Credit Agencies. 

FERN’s analysis: Despite the EU’s claim that it is a leader in halting climate change, its trade and investment policies are in fact worsening the situation. Among the most damaging institutioins supported by EU policies are Export credit agencies (ECAs) and the European Investment Bank who continue to finance destructive activities and the fossil fuel industry to the tune of millions. Nearly 10 per cent of world exports are supported by ECAs, approximately twice the world’s total overseas development assistance.