The new EU Framework for Forest Monitoring and Strategic Plans

ClientEarth recommends that the new EU Framework for Forest Monitoring and Strategic Plans explicitly guarantee Aarhus Convention rights, establish a common EU-wide remote sensing data platform, and align with the Nature Restoration Law and Deforestation Regulation to improve forest governance and enforcement.

• The proposed EU Framework should explicitly guarantee public procedural rights under the Aarhus Convention, including the right to challenge strategic forest plans in court and the right to contest a Member State's failure to disseminate required forest information.
• To prevent Member States from arbitrarily avoiding environmental assessments for certain forest areas, strategic plans for forests should be subject to the mandatory requirements of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive.
• Current forest monitoring is hindered by fragmented data and a lack of transparency; ClientEarth recommends a common EU-wide platform that provides real-time remote sensing data through user-friendly tools for non-specialists.
• The new framework should be integrated with the Nature Directives and the proposed Nature Restoration Law (NRL) to avoid duplicating reporting mechanisms and to provide the baseline data necessary to set 'satisfactory levels' for forest indicators by 2030.
• Enhanced forest data accessibility would support the enforcement of the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) and the draft Deforestation Regulation by helping operators with due diligence and allowing authorities to target compliance checks in high-risk areas.
• A case study on Poland illustrates systemic barriers to transparency, where the State Forests organization frequently denies public access to environmental information, leading to costly legal battles for NGOs.

APA

Starosta, M., Łuszczek, R., & Mautray, Q. (2022). The new EU Framework for Forest Monitoring and Strategic Plans. ClientEarth. https://www.clientearth.org/media/da4jvnuq/clientearth_eu-framework-for-forest-monitoring-and-strategic-plans_public-consultation_november2022.pdf

Chicago

Starosta, Maja, Ranja Łuszczek, and Quentin Mautray. The new EU Framework for Forest Monitoring and Strategic Plans. ClientEarth, 2022. https://www.clientearth.org/media/da4jvnuq/clientearth_eu-framework-for-forest-monitoring-and-strategic-plans_public-consultation_november2022.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Starosta |first1=Maja |last2=Łuszczek |first2=Ranja |last3=Mautray |first3=Quentin |title=The new EU Framework for Forest Monitoring and Strategic Plans |publisher=ClientEarth |date=November 2022 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/da4jvnuq/clientearth_eu-framework-for-forest-monitoring-and-strategic-plans_public-consultation_november2022.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{starosta2022new, author = {Starosta, Maja and Łuszczek, Ranja and Mautray, Quentin}, title = {{The new EU Framework for Forest Monitoring and Strategic Plans}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2022}, month = nov, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/da4jvnuq/clientearth_eu-framework-for-forest-monitoring-and-strategic-plans_public-consultation_november2022.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }