Tag: forests

Wood is already the most widely-used source of renewable energy in Europe, but the European Commission is looking at additional measures to help rural regions seize their potential for power from biomass.

The share of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) expenditure earmarked for forest protection should be increased but only if forest owners conform to biodiversity and other environmental policies, says Greek Socialist MEP Kriton Arsenis in an interview with EurActiv.

As the European Commission finalises proposals to reform the EU's farm policy, the forest and wood sector is arguing that it needs to be offered incentives to manage its resources in a sustainable manner, which it sees as a public service to society.

The European Parliament yesterday (7 July) backed a compromise to close EU markets to illegal timber.

Two weeks of climate talks in Bonn saw developing countries launch a new push to agree on stricter targets for halting global warming, only for the deal to be killed by Saudi Arabia. The blow came as new data showed that loopholes in pledges would allow rich countries to increase their emissions. EurActiv reports from Bonn.

As global population grows and access to sanitation improves, the world's forests are "under assault" from paper companies competing to respond to growing consumer demand for toilet tissue, the only paper product that cannot be recycled after use, writes the Worldwatch Institute.

European countries are still undecided on how to handle the thorny issue of deforestation under a new international climate change agreement, with national interests coming into play as EU ministers gear up for a series of meetings next week.

With international climate negotiations tending to focus mainly on tackling industrial emissions blamed for global warming, NGOs have warned that the issue of deforestation, which is just as serious, could be overlooked.

EU needs to earmark part of the revenue from emissions trading to boost its policy on tackling deforestation, which is currently insufficient, Hungarian centre-right MEP Péter Olajos told EurActiv in an interview.

The World Bank has been in a hurry to get its Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) up and running, meaning that the process to date has been "rushed" and "corners have been cut," according to a new report by scientists from the Forests and the European Union Resource Network (FERN) and the Forest Peoples Programme.

The much-hyped trade and development agreements currently under negotiation between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries could put forests and the livelihoods of communities dependent on them at serious risk, argues a new report by Friends of the Earth.

Meeting in Barcelona on 8 October, representatives of governments, forest owners and forestry companies, trade unions and civil society urged world leaders to take into account the "pivotal role" forests can play in mitigating climate change.

The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) has criticised member states over their efforts to curb illegal logging. Only Austria and the UK are praised for implementing an action plan agreed at EU level in 2003.

European farm ministers have adopted conclusions on the Commission's proposed Forest Action Plan. The ministers want the Commission to appoint co-ordinators for forest policies in all relevant departments.

Finnish paper mills have been producing their own energy for many years, with some almost entirely self-sufficient on biomass. But new competitors could soon drive prices up as bioenergy moves up the government agenda.

EU farm ministers have agreed to establish a licensing scheme for imports of timber products as a way to stop illegal logging. But the scheme has drawn criticism for being voluntary only.

On 13 October 2003, the Agriculture Council issued its Conclusions on the Commission's Action Plan on illegal logging.

The European Commission has published a proposal to monitor and safeguard Europe's forests.