Forests and the Environment – Legislation and Policy of the EU

Abstract:

Forest law and policy has traditionally been managed only at national levels. As traditional forest law dealt with logging-related issues from the macro- and micro-economical point of view, the new global and European approach to the forest is heavily environmentally emphasised with matters such as biodiversity and climate change. Environmental issues have had significant influence on the whole forestry sector and it has been forced to take environmental issues into account. This article introduces various policy actions and pieces of EU legislation related to environmental matters that are important from the forest point of view. The author looks at forest and forest functions and international policy development in a general introduction before beginning an examination of policy issues contained in forest-related policy papers of the EU. He then outlines protection-related issues that can mostly be described legislative matters contained in EU legislation and goes on to focus on sustainable use of the forest in relation to tropical forestry and illegal logging before offering some conclusions, including the suggestion that the deepened and enlarged EU might need even more harmonised forestry legislation to ensure that the requirements are alike in the whole of the EU.