Publications

How bioenergy harms biodiversity: the facts

Intensive forest management is having devastating impacts on wildlife and biodiversity in the EU. This has increased since bioenergy was incentivised as a renewable form of energy under the Renewable Energy Directive. Scientists,...

12/04/2021

Forest governance, Reports

Beyond Commitments

How can NDCs contribute to forest governance and resilient local communities?

31/03/2021

Forest governance, Briefing Notes

Five ways the EU can ensure forests support EU climate and biodiversity goals

To tackle the climate crisis, EU land and forests need to absorb more carbon dioxide, but the opposite is happening. EU forest health and biodiversity is declining, even in EU forests protected by legislation. Half of all the wood...

18/03/2021

NGO Statements

Stop EU-Mercosur Coalition Statement

We, the undersigned organisations, call on political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic to stop the EU-Mercosur trade agreement.

The EU-Mercosur agreement belongs to an out-dated 20th Century model of trade that has failed the...

15/03/2021

Reports

COVID, forests and forest peoples: The implications of the pandemic for forest campaigns.

This is a paper exploring COVID-19’s impact on the work of those trying to protect forests and forest peoples. 

The paper investigates the links between forests and various aspects of pandemic recovery—from the prevention of...

16/02/2021

Fern position on the EU-Mercosur agreement

This EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement will increase trade in the agricultural products that are the main drivers of deforestation in South America. This is opposite of what needs to happen for the EU to achieve its commitments to...

27/01/2021

The EU LULUCF Regulation: Help or hindrance to sustainable forest biomass use?

The European Commission has stated that, “climate action is at the heart of the recently introduced European Green Deal”, including “ambitiously cutting greenhouse gas emissions” and reaching zero emissions by 2050. As part of the...

27/01/2021

Forest governance

Beyond commitments: How can Nationally Determined Contributions contribute to forest governance and resilient local communities?

In 2018, Fern and our partners revealed that many African states’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) pledges were not considering the need to improve forest governance. As countries are now preparing and communicating new...

22/12/2020

Briefing Notes

Measuring the impact of the EU-Mercosur Trade deal on land use, forests, and the people who depend on them.

Ultimately, the impacts of trade agreements reverberate in local communities, in the individual lives of women, men and children, and in the destruction of the unique areas of forest and habitats which surround them. 

This...

02/12/2020

Reports

Restoring more than forests - SUMMARY REPORT

How rights-based forest restoration can empower communities, recover biodiversity, and tackle the climate crisis

Forest restoration is gaining traction around the world as a key strategy to mitigate climate change and...

13/11/2020