Friends of the Earth Europe, alongside FERN and Birdlife Europe and 30 other NGOs, criticised an industry-dominated international agreement on forests today. The Forest Convention to be signed by European countries this fall will be detrimental to the health, carbon carrying capacity and biodiversity levels of European and international forests according to the organisations.
Friedrich Wulf, biodiversity campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe said: “Over 60% of Europe’s forest habitats are under threat, yet European states show little determination to do anything about it. There are no targets, and there is no drive towards improving the state of Europe’s forests. What we’re seeing is business as usual, at the expense of biodiversity.”
Saskia Ozinga, FERN campaign coordinator said: “The treaty focuses on regulation of sustainable forest management without ever clarifying what this actually means. It does nothing to improve the state of Europe’s forests or their protection, and offers a purely economic view of sustainable forest management, overlooking social, environmental and cultural aspects embedded in existing law and policy.”
