While the future EU Forest Strategy post-2020 is expected to be published on 20 July.
While the future EU Forest Strategy post-2020 is expected to be published on 20 July, the EU forest and forest-based sector has very deep concerns about the draft which is currently in inter-service consultation within the European Commission. The views expressed by the sector over the last months have, unfortunately, not been taken into consideration in the draft. In addition, the calls from the European Parliament and Council regarding the new Strategy appear to have been overlooked.
We urgently call on the European Commission to seriously take into consideration the opinion of the forest and forest-based sector ahead of the publication of the new Forest Strategy and make significant changes to the draft. Continuing to ignore the views of our sector risks provoking a disruption of the EU's entire forest and forest-based sector and completely disregarding the need for motivation and endorsement of the millions of people who "make it happen" on the ground. This would result in a failure in the implementation of the Strategy.
The new Forest Strategy must create a balance of the various functions which deliver all ecosystem services, including supporting the entire forest-based value chain to remain competitive and continue to contribute to a greener economy.