The Swedish Forest Industries welcomes greater availability of comparable quality data on forests in the EU. At the same time, we see a need for reassessing and clarifying some of the data to be collected and the policy relevance at EU level.
It is not obvious how the proposal adds relevant knowledge, especially for countries with national forest inventories that already exchange data within international initiatives, and in relation to mandatory monitoring already set in EU legislation. An important job for the co-legislators in the continued process will be to ensure a cost-effective framework tailored to clearly identified needs.
The legislative proposal aims to provide open access to detailed, accurate, regular and timely information on the condition and management of EU forests. The monitoring is centered around data from satellites and national forest inventories (NFI:s), but also includes additional indicators where the methodology is not yet defined. The proposal includes the possibility for Member States to develop or adapt existing integrated long-term forest plans.
SFIF presents the following recommendations on how the framework could achieve the stated objectives in a robust and cost-effective way:
- Focus on the overall state of forests at EU level
- Reexamine indicators that lack defined methodology and clear purpose
- Build a bottom-up framework based on National Forest Inventories
- Refrain from including provisions for voluntary long-term forest plans
EU Forest Monitoring framework
In November 2023, the European Commission presented a legislative proposal for a forest monitoring framework to provide access to detailed, accurate, regular and up-to-date information on the state and management of the EU's forests.
In the European Commission, the responsibility lies with Commissioner Jessika Roswall under the Directorate-General for Environment.
Negotiations on the proposal are now taking place in the European Parliament and in the Council. Swedish MEP Emma Wiesner (RE) and French MEP Eric Sargiacomo (S&D) are the Parliament's rapporteurs in the Environment and Agriculture Committees, respectively. They presented their draft report at the end of January 2025.
What happens now?
June 2025 – Possible timing for the Council to agree its position on the issue
July/September – Expected vote in the European Parliament
Autumn 2025 – Expected trilogue negotiation
