The European Commission plans to introduce new legislation for EU-wide forest monitoring and strategic plans. The aim is to facilitate open access to detailed, accurate, regular and timely information on the condition and management of EU forests.
"We fully support the view that improved, transparent and validated data and information enables better decision making. It is important that new legislation creates added value to existing systems at Member State level that work well. Equally important is to clarify the roles and responsibilities for national and EU-level institutions respectively, so as to avoid overlap and confusion", says Magnus Berg, Director of Public Affairs, Swedish Forest Industries.
In addition to improving forest monitoring, the new legislation aims to deliver more data-driven decision-making on forests within EU and assist EU Member States to develop strategic plans. These plans would lay out the strategic vision of Member States for their forests and the forest-based sector for the next 10, 30 and 50 years.
"We need to facilitate Member States’ collaboration on transboundary issues, such as large-scale natural disturbances, while reinforcing national efforts on strategic forest planning", says Magnus Berg.
