Supporting the Needs of Forest-Dominant Rural Areas and Municipalities: Laying the Groundwork for a Network under the Forest Strategy
This Thematic Group worked to identify needs and key issues faced by forest-dominant rural areas and municipalities and to build the foundation for increased network linkages between similar areas.
Context
Forests constitute essential ecosystems within the EU, covering 43.5% of its land area. Their multiple benefits – economic, environmental, social - are also acknowledged in the EU Forest Strategy for 2030 (EUFS).
Whilst the forestry sector remains important to many rural economies, its contribution to the EU’s GDP is declining.
Additionally, forest-dominant rural areas and municipalities often face depopulation due to remoteness and lack of adequate services and infrastructure, raising concerns whether the forestry sector is an attractive employment option for young people and whether there will be a sufficient labour force for industry development.
As pointed out in the Forest Strategy, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) provides Member States with a mechanism to support forest-dominant rural areas and municipalities, previously through the Rural Development Programmes and now through their CAP Strategic Plans. Whilst the new CAP allows Member States more flexibility in designing their forestry interventions to reduce red tape and stimulate more uptake according to the local context, it is necessary that the target communities are aware, understand, and have the capacity to access this support.
Objectives
The objectives of this TG were to:
- Identify needs and key issues faced by forest-dominant rural areas and municipalities;
- Share experiences between actors to identify challenges and barriers to getting their voices heard in relation to addressing their needs / issues;
- Explore what the added benefit of coming together as a network might be;
- Discuss how the CAP may be utilised to support ideas and initiatives to address these communities’ needs and issues;
- Identify gaps in understanding, support, training and access that may affect uptake of various support mechanisms; and
- Build the foundation for increased network linkages between similar areas and stimulate ideas for future engagement.
Activities
This Thematic Group (TG) had two main strands. First, it provided an opportunity to explore the socioeconomic and environmental needs and issues facing forest-dominant rural areas and municipalities, as well as highlighting the various opportunities that forests bring to the people who live and work in our forests. Second, it focused on what the CAP can do to enhance forest-related opportunities and benefits.
At the first TG meeting (16 March 2023, online) TG members discussed specific needs and issues facing forest-dominant rural areas and municipalities, identified challenges and barriers to addressing these, and explored existing structures for involving forest-dominant areas in policy processes.
The second TG meeting (31 May 2023, online) discussed how working in partnership with multiple stakeholders can address the needs identified by rural stakeholders in forest-dominant rural areas; explored ways in which the CAP and other tools can help contribute to a balanced approach to achieving multi-functional forests; and discussed how TG members can benefit from continued networking.
The outcomes of the TG meetings are highlighted in the event reports available below (Related Publications). A collection of relevant practices and recommendations of the TG are summarised in the documents available below (Resources / Links).
Key findings
The policy recommendations formulated by the TG reflect the members’ practical experiences and the lessons learnt during the Thematic Group were presented to the Forest Standing Committee on 6 June 2023 by DG AGRI representatives.
The full recommendations are described in the ‘Collection of relevant practices’ available for download below. The key headlines of these recommendations can be summarised as follows:
- A range of needs facing forest-dominant areas are common to many rural areas, but some issues are forest-specific. One highlighted challenge relates to securing the multiple benefits / uses of forests.
- Concerns were raised about the potential increase in environmental requirements on forests through proposed regulation (e.g. the Nature Restoration Law) and emphasised the importance of involving forest stakeholders in discussions.
- Networking was acknowledged as key to finding solutions to complex issues and agreed that an easily accessible platform for sharing good practice examples could contribute to more effective exchanges among stakeholders.
- TG members emphasised the role of communication among different stakeholders in developing effective institutional and regulatory mechanisms as well as funding support schemes to support the balanced use of forests.
- An easily accessible synthesis of what CAP support / interventions are available in each Member State (both forest specific interventions and horizontal support, e.g. for advice, cooperation, etc.) was suggested by TG members to help stakeholders at local / national level.
- There needs to be a change in mindset about the ways of managing forest areas – both within Member State institutions and for those working on the ground – to ensure that forests are productive, resilient to climate change, benefit the environment and the local communities.
- TG members flagged the vital role of forest extension services to facilitate the necessary changes.
Learn more
Scroll down this page to find all the outputs of this Thematic Group and relevant resources related to this topic.
You can find other useful resources about this theme in our Publications section and in our Good Practice database.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact us at implementation@eucapnetwork.eu.
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