Restoring degraded nature and improving biodiversity are important objectives that we welcome. One key question in the proposal is how the targets and reference values should be interpreted. The legislation should not limit the use of forests, as we need renewable materials more than ever – for the climate and for energy security.
Nature Restoration Law is a comprehensive proposal by the European Commission for legally binding EU nature restoration targets. The aim is to restore EU’s ecosystems and help to increase biodiversity, mitigate and adapt to climate change, and prevent and reduce the impacts of natural disasters.
One key question is how to combine the objectives of this proposal with the need to transform our society in the face of climate change. For society to become less dependent on fossil fuels, we will need more renewable and recyclable raw materials and products from forests, for housing, packaging, personal hygiene, energy and more. This has to be carefully assessed in the legislative process going forward.
Swedish Forest Industries proposes the following:
- Enable nature restoration targets that are balanced towards other societal targets and based on national and local conditions and needs.
- Strengthen the approach of setting overarching targets at EU level while letting Member States take the lead on implementation.
- Delegated acts should not be used to change essential elements of the Regulation.
