EU tables new regulation to track climate threats to forests using satellites

The European Commission on Wednesday (22 November) proposed a forest monitoring system that will use satellites to track threats such as climate change-fuelled wildfires and illegal logging.

Climate change is taking a mounting toll on Europe’s forests, as extreme heat and drought increase the risk of deadly wildfires. Nearly 900,000 hectares of EU land was burned in forest fires last year, an area roughly the size of Corsica, EU data show.

The degradation of Europe’s forests spells trouble since their CO2-storing capacity is needed to meet climate targets and protect surrounding areas from flooding.

On Wednesday, the Commission proposed a law that would see Brussels collect forest data from the EU’s Copernicus Sentinel satellites. EU member states would also be obliged to gather ground measurements of trends including the areas available for logging, the volume of trees and the location of ancient forests.

“We need to see the trends, need to predict better, we need to see how they are responding to climate change,” EU Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius told Reuters.

“At this moment there are no comprehensive monitoring requirements to provide an overall picture of the state of our forests,” he said.

The new data will also help track other risks, like illegal logging, across national borders, Sinkevicius said.

Restoring forests can boost global carbon capture, major study finds

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Tall, mature forests are declining significantly in Nordic countries and Southeastern Europe due to rising harvesting, wildfires and pests caused by climate change, according to new research published on Wednesday by the World Resources Institute (WRI).

This is worrying because mature forests “are critical for storing carbon and safeguarding biodiversity,” the WRI pointed out, saying the EU’s new forest monitoring regulation will provide a structure to improve data and collective action to protect Europe’s most precious forests.

“It now requires ambitious follow-up in the EU Parliament and Council” representing the EU’s 27 member countries, said Stientje van Veldhoven, regional director for Europe  at the WRI.

The EU has clashed with countries including Poland over this issue. The European Court of Justice ruled in March that Poland’s policy of allowing logging during birds’ breeding seasons breached EU environment laws. The court also ruled in 2018 against Warsaw’s authorisation of logging in the ancient Bialowieza forest.

Campaign group Fern welcomed the EU proposal as “a potentially golden opportunity” to provide the data needed to protect Europe’s forests. However, the group said the law should go further and compel EU countries to then take action to improve forests’ health.

Brussels says forest data currently provided by member states has gaps and often long delays, hampering their ability to prepare for climate hazards.

But forest owners are worried that the data will be used to prevent them from harvesting their land or that sensitive business information will be shared publicly.

“Beyond collecting data, its ownership, validation, and possible future interpretations should be addressed,” said the Confederation of European Forest Owners (CEPF).

According to CEPF, data sharing should be strictly controlled to avoid divulging sensitive information on private property or releasing competitive business-related information.

The answer to deforestation lies in space

The use of satellite technology to track and halt real-time cases of deforestation in a country like Malaysia could become a “blueprint” for ending deforestation in the Amazon, writes Daniel Mackisack.

[Additional reporting by Frédéric Simon]

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