FSC Joins the European Environmental Bureau

The Policy and Standards arm of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC-IC) has recently become an affiliate member of the European Environmental Bureau (EEB).

EEB is Europe’s largest network of environmental citizens’ organizations in Europe. It brings together over 180 citizens’ groups from more than 38 European countries, advocating for progressive policies to create a better environment in the European Union and beyond. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are an important stakeholder group in the FSC system, so the partnership may open new and different ways to engage greater numbers and diversity of NGOs into FSC’s work.

With 30 years of experience in sustainable forest management, FSC is looking forward to work with NGOs to shape the future of EU environmental and climate forestry policies. The main goals include minimising the risk that products associated with deforestation are placed in the EU market, ensuring forest biodiversity protection, safeguarding forests of high environmental and social value, as well as enhancing the conditions for forest resilience and combatting illegal logging.

Stefan Salvador, Director of Policy Operations at the Policy and Standards arm of FSC (FSC-IC), said “We are delighted to be part of the EEB and collaborate with ENGOs to support progressive environmental policy-making at the EU level. We will work to ensure that voluntary actions complement and support mandatory ones so to make sustainable forestry initiatives within the EU Green Deal a reality across the EU”.

FSC was founded with strong support from NGOs and has worked towards the same vision of preserving resilient forests around the world. However, the ways of achieving this vision have sometimes diverged from those of NGOs who expressed concerns and campaigned against voluntary certification (see our blog post ‘We all stand with the trees’ on that topic). Coming together in an atmosphere of dialogue as partners to find solutions to the complex challenges around forests can  help us work in a more constructive way.

FSC-IC, supported by FSC Network Partners across the EU, will work with relevant working groups under the EEB umbrella focusing on specific EU environmental policy topics. The FSC experts will make sure to represent all three pillars: social, environmental, and economic. This reflects its three-chamber structure, equally covering interests of all forest stakeholders.