FORESTRY STRATEGY FOR THE EUROPEAN UNION

- COUNCIL RESOLUTION

"THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

1. agreeing the benefits of a Forestry Strategy for the European Union as set out in this Resolution based primarily on the general analysis and guidelines of the Commission communication to the Council and the European Parliament;

2. with regard to the existing legislation of the Council concerning the forest sector as well as the proposals on the support of forestry measures in the Member States made within the framework of Agenda 2000;

3. based on the activities and commitments made by the European Union and its Member States in all relevant international processes related to forests, in particular the UN - Conference for Environment and Development in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro and its follow-up (), as well as the Ministerial Conferences on the Protection of Forests in Europe and its principles and recommendations for the forest sector;

4. emphasises the importance of the multifunctional role of forests and sustainable forest management based on their social, economic, environmental, ecological and cultural functions for the development of society and in particular rural areas and the contribution forests and forestry can make to existing Community policies;

5. identifies as substantial elements of this common forestry strategy:

(a) sustainable forest management as defined by the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe in Helsinki 1993, and the multifunctional role of forests as an overall principle for action;

(b) the principle of subsidiarity, in view of the fact that the Treaty makes no provision for a specific common forestry policy and that the responsibility for forestry policy lies with the Member States; nevertheless, taking into account that, pursuant to the principle of subsidiarity and the concept of shared responsibility, the Community can contribute positively to the implementation of sustainable forest management and the multifunctional role of forests;

(c) the contribution of existing and future measures at Community level for the implementation of a Forestry Strategy and for the support of the Member States in regard to sustainable forest management and the multifunctional role of forests, protection of forests, development and maintenance of rural areas, forest heritage, biological diversity, climate change, use of wood as a renewable source of energy etc., while avoiding market distorting measures;

(d) the implementation of international commitments, principles and recommendations through national or sub-national forest programmes or appropriate instruments developed by the Member States;

(e) the active participation in all international processes related to the forest sector;

(f) the need to improve coordination, communication and cooperation in all policy areas with relevance to the forest sector within the Commission, between the Commission and the Member States, as well as between the Member States;

(g) the importance of sustainable forest management for the conservation and enhancement of biological diversity and for the living conditions for animals and plants, as well as one of many measures to combat climate change;

(h) the promotion of the use of wood and non-wood forest products from sustainably managed forests as environmentally friendly products in line with the rules of the open market;

(i) the contribution of forestry and forest based industries to income, employment and other elements affecting the quality of life and the close connection between these two areas, influencing their competitiveness and economic viability;

(j) the necessity better to integrate forests and forest products in all sectoral common policies, like the CAP, the Environment, Energy, Trade, Industry, Research, Internal Market and Development Co-operation policies, in order to take into account both the contribution of forests and forest products to other policies and the impact of other policies on forests and forest products, with the aim of guaranteeing the consistency needed for a holistic approach towards sustainable forest management;

(k) the need to encourage a participatory and transparent approach, with all stake-holders recognising the wide variety of ownership regimes within the Community which necessitates the involvement of forest owners;

(l) the need for specific approaches and actions for the different types of forests, recognising the wide range of natural, social, economic and cultural conditions of forests in the Community;

(m) the fact that this strategy is a dynamic process which implies further discussions and activities as described above;

COMMUNITY ACTIONS CONCERNING FORESTS AND FORESTRY

6. EMPHASISES the contribution forests can make to the promotion of employment, well-being, and of the environment, which fits with the concept of sustainable forest management, based on the economic, ecological, social and cultural functions of the forests;

7. RECOMMENDS that the Community should take part actively in the implementation of the resolutions of the Ministerial Conferences on the Protection of Forests in Europe and participate proactively in international discussion and negotiations on forestry-related issues, in particular in the United Nations Intergovernmental Forum on Forests;

8. CALLS on the Commission to undertake a review of the measures in the Council Regulation on the Protection of Forests against atmospheric pollution (), in order to evaluate and continuously improve the effectiveness of the European monitoring system of forest health, taking into account all the potential impacts on forest ecosystems;

9. ADVOCATES the continuation, evaluation and consideration of a possible improvement of the Community scheme for the protection of forests against fire () in view of the positive impact it has had on the effectiveness of prevention measures and of the importance of coherent arrangements to protect forests, and INVITES the Commission to pay special attention on the development of the Community forest-fire information system, which enables the effectiveness of the protection measures against fires to be better assessed;

10. EMPHASISES the importance of continued development of a European Forestry Information and Communication System (EFICS) () by improving the quality and reliability of data on forests and underlines the cooperation with the relevant national and international institutions;

11. CONSIDERS that Community measures in the framework of co-operation with Central and Eastern Europe as well as in the framework of the Ministerial Conferences on the Protection of Forests in Europe should promote sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development of forests; NOTES that the Commission has presented a proposal for a Council Regulation on Community support for pre-accession measures for agriculture and rural development in the applicant countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the pre-accession period () and that support for agricultural and rural development may cover forestry inter alia; CONSIDERS that this proposal may contribute to management, conservation and sustainable development of forests in Central and Eastern Europe;

12. NOTES that research activities on forestry in Community RTD programmes contribute to promoting the sustainable management and multifunctional role of forests and the sustainable and multipurpose utilisation of forest resources as well as to improving research potential and encouraging innovation;

13. EMPHASISES the benefits of effective coordination between different policy sectors which have an influence on forestry, and of coordination at Community level through, inter alia, the Standing Forestry Committee (), the Consultative Committee on Forests () and the Consultative Committee on Forestry and Forestry based industry (), making use of these committees as ad-hoc consultation fora providing expertises for all forestry-related activities in the framework of existing Community policies such as CAP and Rural Development, Environment, Trade, Research, Internal Market, Research, Industry, Development Cooperation and Energy policies; and CALLS on the Commission to make a report to the Council as soon as possible on how to improve coordination;

14. CONSIDERS that the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity in forests is essential to their sustainable management and that appropriate measures should be integrated in the forest programmes or equivalent instruments of the Member States in line with the pan-European "Work-Programme on the Conservation and Enhancement of Biological and Landscape Diversity in Forest Ecosystems 1997 - 2000"; NOTES the added value that the Community's actions can provide through forestry measures inside rural development and forest protection measures as well as by specific actions such as research, conservation of genetic resources () and support for the application of the pan-European criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management; CONSIDERS that these activities and this added value contribute to the response to the requested action frame of the Community Biodiversity Strategy;

15. RECOGNISES additionally the need for the conservation and protection of areas representative of all types of forest ecosystems and of specific ecological interest; NOTES the Community contribution to the establishment, through the Natura 2000 ecological network, of protected areas consisting of "Special Protection Areas" and "Special Conservation Areas" set up under the Birds Directive () and the Habitats Directive (), taking into account economic, social and cultural requirements, regional and local characteristics and the involvement of forest owners;

16. HOLDS that the role of forests as carbon sinks and reservoirs within the Union can be best ensured through sustainable forest management and that the contribution to the EU and the Member States' climate change strategies is in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol () and can be achieved through protection and enhancement of existing carbon stocks, establishment of new carbon stocks and encouraging the use of biomass and wood-based products;

17. CONSIDERS that forestry and forest-based commercial activities fall within an open sector of the economy and that their commercial functions should be guided primarily by market forces; NOTES that the Community has established a number of instruments to ensure that competition functions effectively;

18. EMPHASISES that priority must be given to the improvement of public and consumer opinion about forestry and forest products, assuring them that forests are managed sustainably; NOTING that forest certification schemes are market-based instruments which aim to seek to improve consumer awareness of the environmental qualities of sustainable forest management and to promote the use of wood and forest products as environmentally friendly and renewable raw materials, and that forest certification schemes should be comparable and the performance indicators should be compatible with internationally agreed principles of sustainable forest management and furthermore should comply with conditions regarding their voluntary nature, credibility, transparency, cost efficiency, open access and non-discriminatory character with respect to forest types and owners; one essential point in ensuring credibility should be the independent audit of forest management; INVITES the Commission to consider the possibility for further action at EU level;

19. RECOGNISES that the existing forestry measures as well as a chapter specially dedicated to forestry in the proposed regulation on rural development in Agenda 2000 () could provide a basis for implementing the guidelines of this Resolution; AGREES that all common measures affecting forests and forest products should be in line with the aims and recommendations of this Strategy;

20. NOTES that the Commission intends to present

- a communication to the Council and the European Parliament on the competitiveness of forest-based industries;

- a proposal revising the Directive on the marketing of forest reproductive material ();

- a specific communication to the Council and European Parliament shortly on forestry development cooperation.

21. INVITES the Commission to report to the Council on the implementation of the strategy within five years."