EU Parliament to discuss forest monitoring only next spring, says Sari Essayah, Finnish Minister of Agriculture and Forestry
The controversial proposal on forest monitoring by the EU Commission will not be discussed by the EU Parliament this year, says Sari Essayah, former MEP and Finland’s Minister of Agriculture and Forestry.
The Commission proposal on forest monitoring, criticized by Finland and several other Member States, is being moved further down on the EU Parliament (EP) agenda, most likely to next spring. Forest.fi was informed of this by Sari Essayah (Christian Democrats), Finland’s Minister of Agriculture and Forestry.
Essayah bases this view on her visit to the EP in Strasbourg, France, in October.
’On my visit to the Parliament, quite a number of people felt that nothing will be happening in this matter before end of year. Most probably it will be taken up this coming spring,’ says Essayah, who served as MEP in 2009–2014.
’The proposal has been discussed back and forth by both the Council and the Parliament. During the EP election the matter was more or less on hold, so not much was happening,’ says Essayah.
All EU matters touching on forests are particularly important for Finland, as it has more forests than any other country in Europe. Forests cover over 75 percent of Finland’s land area.
Finland is in favour, but cannot approve everything
In the autumn of 2023, the European Commission published its proposal for a regulation concerning the more detailed monitoring of the condition of forests within the Union. The aim of the proposal is to generate comparable and up-to-date forest data, to serve as the basis for such legislation as the nature restoration regulation.
The aim is to improve forest-related decision-making in the EU. The Commission hopes that forest monitoring could also help to combat illegal logging.
The monitoring would be implemented by a combination of remote sensing of forests and observation on the ground.
Finland is in favour of a reliable monitoring of forests, while also criticizing the Commission proposal for, among other things, the increase in costs and the data security involved. Finland was joined in this criticism by Austria, France, Sweden, Slovenia and seven other Member States in September.
It has been said that the monitoring project will increase the EU’s powers and control within forestry.
Essayah criticises the Commission for its plan to enact the specific details through delegated legislation. This consists of legislation proposals by the Commission which the European Parliament and the Member States can either adopt or reject, but not modify.
’We don’t want to allow the Commission to define the relevant indicators in delegated legislation,’ Essayah says.
Forests cover 75 percent of Finland. Gathering data for the indicators in the forest can be surprisingly costly. That’s why we have taken a negative view on this.
The Commission’s monitoring proposal lists about twenty indicators, the data for which would be gathered in forests. Among other things, they describe the area covered by forests and the number and growth of trees.
Essayah fears that Finland would have to introduce a new system to deal with forest monitoring. She points out that forest data has already been collected in Finland for over a hundred years.
’Forests cover 75 percent of Finland. Gathering data for the indicators in the forest can be surprisingly costly. That’s why we have taken a negative view on this,’ Essayah explains.
’Many countries, such as Sweden, already have systems that work well,’ she continues.
The National Forest Inventories conducted in Finland since 1921 produce data based on statistical sampling and the measurement of over a hundred variables each year on test plots located throughout Finland.
Concern over data security
The Commission aims at a geographically detailed system, with data gathered on the forest unit level. Minister Essayah brings up the issue of data security.
’We should be informed about how this data will be used,’ Essayah says.
The number of Finnish forest owners exceeds 600,000, and the protection of data related to their forests has also been a point of concern for the Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners (MTK).The union says that data on private forests is no business of the Commission’s and there is no need to extend an EU-level monitoring system to forests.
Monitoring is not the only forest-related project facing headwinds in the EU. The implementation of the Deforestation Regulation is being postponed by a year, to allow the Member States and businesses sufficient time to prepare for what it requires.
Read more: Forest sector buckles down to comply with Deforestation Regulation
