Hatchet Job on the Forest Monitoring Law – What Next?

This Briefing analyses the current situation on negotiations for an EU Forest Monitoring Law (FML), and what has brought us to the disappointing situation we now have – that the Council and Parliament are proposing to drastically weaken the European Commission’s proposal for science-based monitoring. This Briefing should be useful for MEPs, who have yet to finalise and vote on the Parliament’s position, and anyone else interested in how policymaking is currently undertaken on the EU’s biggest land-use, forests. Drafted by NGOs and scientists, this briefing summarises how Council and Parliament have proposed to weaken the FML and analyses their failure to take a more constructive approach. We conclude by urging MEPs to rescue the FML by significantly improving the Parliament’s text, which would keep alive the possibility of a valuable outcome during trilogue.