Publications

Reports

Financing land grabs and deforestation: The role of EU banks and investors

In recent years, a growing body of evidence has shown how large scale agricultural companies are driving land grabs and deforestation in the tropics. This report is a contribution to the debate on how to tackle these issues. It...

27/07/2016

Reports

A comparison of national sustainability schemes for solid biomass in the EU

There are no harmonised sustainability criteria for bioenergy or the sourcing of biomass across the European Union (EU). EU Member States have therefore largely relied on domestic Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) rules to guide...

26/07/2016

NGO Statements

Tackling illegal logging, deforestation and forest degradation – a global agenda for the EU

This letter from eight NGOs to the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission encourages the EU to intensify its diplomatic efforts with major forest-rich...

21/06/2016

NGO Statements

Letter to agriculture ministers for European Council meeting on FLEGT

This letter to agricultural ministers thanks them for their actions to control illegal logging and encourages them to ensure all forest risk commodities’ supply chains consist of only legally and sustainably sourced products, free...

18/06/2016

Up In Flames: How biomass burning wrecks Europe’s forests

This new report by Fred Pearce for Fern shows that Europe’s forests are being invaded in the name of green energy. The report focuses on a number of forests in Europe and the US, that are under threat by this push for bioenergy,...

03/06/2016

NGO Statements

Japan’s new law fails to meet G7 commitment to halt the trade in illegal timber

This joint letter on behalf of 15 organisations highlights serious weaknesses in Japan’s new law intended to stop the trade in illegal timber. It outlines the measures that the Japanese government should take to ensure their...

27/05/2016

Scoping Study on EU-China Relationships in the Forestry Sector

China’s rapid economic growth has spurred a massive demand for natural resources – including timber, agricultural commodities and minerals – the vast bulk of which are imported. Although it is estimated that the proportion of...

23/05/2016

Briefing Notes

Improving forest governance in Laos

In 2012, the Lao government expressed interest in negotiating a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the European Union to address illegal logging trade and to improve forest governance. An unreleased study for WWF found...

20/05/2016

Reports

Do FLEGT VPAs improve governance?

Fern has published research showing that the FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) have led to clear improvements in forest governance. the publication of the research came as the European Commission released an...

04/05/2016

Briefing Notes

NGOs call for FLEGT Action Plan to be strengthened

A group of NGOs, including Fern, has issued a briefing paper calling on the EU to strengthen the measures contained in the FLEGT Action Plan as a way of tackling illegal logging. The briefing is the NGOs’ contribution to the...

26/04/2016