Considerations on COM(2023)728 - Monitoring framework for resilient European forests - Main contents
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| dossier | COM(2023)728 - Monitoring framework for resilient European forests. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2023)728 |
| date | November 22, 2023 |
(2) However, unprecedented droughts, bark beetle outbreaks and wildfires driven by climate change have already caused significant tree dieback and temporary forest loss in many Member States in recent years. The frequency and severity of climate and weather extremes is projected to further increase. A large share of Union forests is vulnerable to their effects, with adverse consequences for forest owners, forest-based industries and value chains, for rural livelihoods and for forest biodiversity, negatively affecting the capacity of forests to provide vital ecosystem services that the wellbeing of Union citizens and bioeconomy in the Union depend on. Risks like wildfires and pest outbreaks are transboundary in nature and are increasing with climate change. That leads to higher costs for their suppression and contributes to wood market volatility. European forests are already suffering economic impacts from forest fires of around 1.5 billion euros annually, while increasing temperatures are predicted to reduce the value of forest land by several hundred billion euros by the end of the century due to changes in species composition.
(3) Addressing those negative trends and threats, ensuring that forests in the Union can continue delivering on their multiple functions under a changing climate, and preserving forest ecosystems as natural heritage requires an enhanced forest disaster prevention, preparedness, response and post-disaster recovery, biodiversity enhancement to improve forest resilience to climate-induced impacts, a stronger capacity to manage risks and adaptive forest management approaches.
(4) Member States, forest owners and the Union can take the appropriate actions only if they have coherent, reliable, timely and comparable data, making best use of the digital transition opportunities, including Earth Observation technology. To that end, a European-wide forest monitoring system should be set up to collect and share forest data that will support informed decision-making, for example by allowing to identify, assess, and address forest hazards, risks and damages in a timely manner. Against that background, the new EU Forest Strategy for 2030 announced a legislative proposal on EU Forest Observation, Reporting and Data Collection including on Strategic Plans for Forests and the forest-based sector.
(5) Thanks to the constellation of Copernicus satellites and other space assets, complemented by periodic airborne imaging campaigns, the Union is equipped with reliable, cost-efficient, and readily operational Earth observation technologies. These allow for the detection and monitoring of climate change-driven forest disturbances, such as wildfires, droughts, storms, and pest outbreaks.
(6) Furthermore, it is necessary to obtain an accurate and complete picture of European forests in the Union to assess their vulnerability and resilience to climate change, and the effectiveness of the measures to help them adapt to climate change. That requires the collection of relevant data on forest health, biodiversity and forest structures.
(7) Most of the data on forests on the national level has been collected through national forest inventories. The main focus is on monitoring of timber resources even if some collected data also cover other forest functions. Moreover, no comprehensive system currently exists at the Union level that can ensure availability of comparable quality data across all relevant policy areas, including forest resilience and biodiversity. In addition, there are remaining challenges relating to the integration of remote sensing data and ground-based data due to lack of interoperability and data accessibility of ground data, often in connection to concerns relating to data confidentiality. Overall, the current forest monitoring in the Union needs to further develop a systematic data collection and data sharing in line with common descriptions and long and comparable high-resolution time-series.
(8) The fast developments in monitoring tools and technologies, in particular in Earth observation through space-borne or aerial means, and in Global Navigation Satellite Systems, provide a unique opportunity to modernise, digitalise and standardise the monitoring of forests, providing a service to forest users and authorities, and to support voluntary integrated long-term planning, while stimulating the Union market growth with regard to those technologies and related new skills, including for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To date rapid changes to forest cover, such as through forest disturbances, can be detected by Earth observation and can improve the efficiency of forest monitoring. However, ground measurements are needed to develop, verify, and calibrate Earth observation data products. Also, many features connected to forest disturbances or biodiversity (e.g. attribution of the forest disturbance causes, quantity of deadwood, forest naturalness, or presence of old-growth forests) are difficult to predict for large areas using only Earth observation.
(9) There are several Union policy instruments that directly or indirectly affect forests in the fields of environment and biodiversity, climate, energy, bioeconomy and civil protection. A high-quality forest monitoring system combining ground-based observations with data and products from Earth observation will allow tracking progress towards Union policy objectives and targets, enabling their successful implementation and evaluation. As an example, the implementation of the revised Renewable Energy Directive necessitates that Member States have information on the location of primary and old-growth forests. Moreover, having access to wall-to-wall annual data on tree cover changes and extent of forest disturbances can support Member States monitoring and reporting of carbon stock changes for the purposes of the LULUCF Regulation. This approach is in line with other Union instruments such as the EU Observatory on Deforestation, Forest degradation and Associated Drivers, as anchored in the 2019 Communication on Stepping up EU action to protect and restore the world’s forest13, which aims to monitor changes in the world’s forest and related drivers by providing global forest maps, information on supply chains and Earth Observation tools for regional to global analysis.
(10) Moreover, availability of quality forest data should support the uptake of sustainable business models such as carbon removal technologies and carbon farming solutions under the Union carbon removal certification framework in accordance with Regulation [X/X] of the European Parliament and of the Council14, stimulating the adoption and large-scale deployment of sustainable carbon farming and carbon storage practices across the Union by decreasing costs for forest managers deciding to participate in such schemes.
(11) Against that background a forest monitoring system should be established by the Commission in cooperation with Member States, based on three elements that should be gradually made operational: a geographically explicit identification system for forest units, a forest data collection framework and a data sharing framework. The forest monitoring system should allow the collection of data based on Earth observation and georeferenced ground observation and should ensure interoperability with other existing electronic databases and geographic information systems, including those relevant for the monitoring of LULUCF activities and for the tracking of deforestation-free commodities in accordance with the Deforestation Regulation. The forest monitoring system should respect the principles laid down by the latest European Interoperability Framework15.
(12) In order to ensure that forest data can be monitored in a coherent manner, it is first necessary to identify and localise forest units with similar core characteristics, such as minimum area, tree cover density and main forest type. To that end, the geographically explicit identification system should enable the correct mapping and localisation of areas containing forest, enabling the tracking of change to the forest cover and characteristics over time. To ensure a sufficient level of accuracy, the system should comply with a minimum standard in terms of scale and be developed around a standardised approach.
(13) Forest data to be collected under this Regulation reflects the data needs for underpinning Union policies in the areas of climate change mitigation and adaptation, disaster risk prevention and management, biodiversity and bioeconomy. The forest data collection system should be based on different datasets: standardised data, to be operated by the Commission and primarily collected via Earth observation through Copernicus satellites and subject to technical protocols, and harmonised data, to which Member States should contribute through systematic collection of data using their own surveys based on a grid of sampling plots, such as National Forest Inventories or other networks of monitoring sites, and complementing them with Earth Observation tools, where available and applicable.
(14) In order to provide the most comprehensive picture of the state and condition of forests within the Union, Member States should be able to choose not to use the service provided by the Commission and to contribute to the standardised data compilation operated by the Commission with their sources. That should allow Member States that have monitoring systems in place to contribute with their nationally applicable datasets such as in situ data or airborne campaigns that are not available wall-to-wall across the Union, without creating an additional resource burden, in line with the subsidiarity principle. Moreover, the complementary use of airborne monitoring systems should contribute to quantify the impact of forest fires in order to plan for the rehabilitation of the burnt area, and as a result reduce costs to Member States and forest owners through more efficient post-fire management. In case Member States choose not to use the services provided by the Commission, they should collect the data in accordance with the technical specifications included in this Regulation and should annually assess the quality of these data.
(15) With a view to reducing costs and facilitating access to forest data, the forest data sharing framework should ensure for such data to be made publicly accessible by the Member States and the Commission, including in the Forest Information System for Europe. Member States should be able to continue using their existing data collection systems. For the purposes of harmonisation they should share the data in accordance with the technical specifications included in the Regulation, which are based on existing reference descriptions and methods. With regard to data relating to the location of monitoring sites, which are currently treated as confidential by most national forest inventories, their sharing should be subject to the development of safeguards, in line with the relevant EU requirements, that ensure that the confidentiality of such data is not compromised. The forest data sharing framework should facilitate, through the geographical localisation of the Member States’ shared data, the attribution of that information to each forest unit.
(16) Currently, not all forest-relevant data in the Union are being monitored and reported under existing Union and international frameworks due to lack of data collection systems and harmonised methodologies, for example data relevant for tracking the progress of adaptation to climate change as required in accordance with Articles 5 and 6 of the European Climate Law. For that reason, this Regulation should provide for the inclusion of such additional forest data in the forest monitoring system subject to the development of the relevant methodologies by the Commission, with the support of the European Forest Science Partnership developed through its Joint Research Centre. The technical specifications for these additional forest data should be developed in a stepwise approach through implementing acts in close cooperation with the Member States, based on the highest policy priority and taking into account financial and technical feasibility, as well as the possible administrative burden on Member States.
(17) Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of the European Parliament and of the Council16 on open data and the re-use of public sector information mandates the release of public sector data in free and open formats. The overall objective of that Directive is to continue strengthening the Union’s data economy by increasing the amount of public sector data available for re-use, ensuring fair competition and easy access public sector information, and enhancing cross-border innovation based on data. The main principle of that Directive is that government data should be ‘open by design and default’. Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council17 is aimed at guaranteeing the right of access to environmental information in the Member States in line with the 1998 Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (‘Aarhus Convention’). The Aarhus Convention encompasses broad obligations related both to making environmental information available upon request and actively disseminating such information. Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council18 also covers the sharing of spatial information, including data sets on different environmental topics. The provisions of this Regulation related to access to information and data-sharing arrangements should complement those Directives, in order not to create a separate legal regime and should therefore be without prejudice to Directives (EU) 2019/1024, 2003/4/EC and 2007/2/EC. In accordance with those Directives, the sharing of forest data under this Regulation should not adversely affect national security and defence.
(18) In order to ensure the compatibility of data storage and exchange systems for the collection and sharing of forest data under the forest monitoring system, the Commission and the Member States should cooperate, also involving specialised bodies.
(19) The forest monitoring system should ensure that the data shared is reliable and verifiable. The Commission and the Member States should therefore control the quality and completeness of the forest data collected under the forest monitoring system. Where the quality assessment reveals deficiencies of the system, Member States should address them and provide the Commission with the assessment and the remedial actions. In light of that, the Commission should be empowered to develop rules and procedures to ensure the quality of the forest monitoring system, taking into consideration the need to keep the additional administrative burden for SMEs to the minimum.
(20) In order to support Member States in forest monitoring and voluntary integrated long-term planning, this Regulation should establish a governance framework for coordination and cooperation between the Commission and the Member States and among Member States, in order to improve the quality, timeliness and coverage of forest data. The governance framework should be inclusive and science-based and should aim at further improving the reliability of scientific advice and the quality of the integrated long-term plans, thereby facilitating knowledge and good practice exchange. That governance framework should ensure the participation of the competent authorities responsible for the different policy objectives reflecting the multifunctionality of forests as well as independent experts in line with Decision [X/X] of the European Parliament and of the Council19. For the implementation of this governance framework, each Member State should designate a national correspondent and inform the Commission; the national correspondent should be the main focal point for any activity relating to the forest monitoring system as well as voluntary integrated long-term planning. The Member States and the Commission should also make use of existing regional institutional cooperation structures, including those under regional Conventions and other forest relevant fora and processes.
(21) Similarly, in order to support an integrated approach across the relevant policy areas and to ensure the resilience of Union forests, this Regulation should provide for the possibility for Member States to develop voluntary integrated long-term forest plans, or adapt as necessary, their existing long-term forest strategies or plans in light of aspects specified by this Regulation, also taking into account socio-economic considerations. The development of such integrated approach would increase coherence in the delivery of Union objectives through the inclusion of common aspects in the plans, that would also cover enabling elements such as needed investments and training and capacity building to support upskilling of forest managers. The plans should be made publicly available and reflect a medium to long-term perspective, including but not limited to 2040 and 2050.
(22) In order to ensure the good functioning of the forest monitoring system, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission in respect of amending and supplementing this Regulation to adapt the technical specifications of forest data to technical and scientific progress and to adopt accuracy standards for data and rules on quality assessment. It is of particular importance that the Commission carries out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making of 13 April 201620. In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.
(23) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission with respect to technical rules and procedures for the sharing and the harmonisation of forest data; methodologies for the collection of certain forest data and further specification of their descriptions; procedures and formats to be used to ensure the compatibility of data storage and exchange systems and to establish confidentiality preserving safeguards for the inclusion into those data storage and exchange systems of information relating to geographically explicit location of monitoring sites; the contents of the assessment reports on the quality of data and arrangements for their submission to the Commission as well as the description of remedial actions. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council21.
(24) The Commission should keep this Regulation under review, taking into account the relevant developments concerning Union legislation, international frameworks and technological and scientific progress and additional monitoring needs. The review should also assess the quality of data harmonisation, in particular whether the harmonisation leads to excessive uncertainties of estimates that would justify the need for establishing standardised data collection. Five years after the entry into force of this Regulation, the Commission should report on its implementation.
(25) Union forests and sustainable forest management are crucial for the European Green Deal and its objectives. The Union has a range of competences that may also relate to forests such as climate, environment, rural development, and disaster prevention. Within these areas of shared Union competences, forests and forestry do not fall within the exclusive competence of Member States. The objectives of this Regulation, namely to ensure high quality and comparability of forest data collected in the Union and to promote the voluntary development of integrated long-term planning at Member State level supporting the resilience of the Union forests, cannot be sufficiently achieved individually by the Member States alone, and by reason of the scale and effects of the proposed action, those objectives can be better achieved at Union level. Therefore, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary to achieve those objectives.