Source: European Parliament
The land sector is EU’s perhaps most important natural resource. It provides food and material for the bioeconomy, sustains a wealth of biodiversity and regulates climate.
Forests in Europe are vital for the climate transition, and the Commission shares the concern regarding the declining trend of the annual carbon sink between 2016 and 2022[1].
One of the key objectives of the ongoing evaluation of the Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry Regulation is to better understand the driving factors behind the declining sink, such as natural disturbances and management practices. It is nevertheless clear that climate change increases pressures on forests through droughts, fires, storms and pests.
Several initiatives seek to strengthen the incentives to enhance forest sinks, including to boost their resilience. This includes, among others, the Carbon Removal and Carbon Farming Certification Framework[2] and the Nature Restoration Regulation[3].
Collaboration with foresters and other actors across the forest-based value chain must continue to reverse this trend and promote long-term resilient forests for the EU bioeconomy and climate.
High quality, comparable and timely data is a prerequisite for efficient and evidence-based policy making. This is why the Commission proposed a Forest Monitoring Law[4] in November 2023 to create a common EU framework for improved monitoring.
With cost-efficiency and simplification as guiding principles, the proposal builds on making good use of existing advanced technologies such as satellites.
At the Agriculture and Fisheries Council of 23 June 2025, the Commission in its statement expressed major concerns about the draft Council position, following which it may consider withdrawing the proposal.
- [1] EU Biomass supply, uses, governance and regenerative actions, Joint Research Centre, Figure 84: https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC140117.
- [2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L_202403012.
- [3] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1991/oj/eng.
- [4] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52023PC0728.