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having regard to Article 227 of the Treaty on European Union,

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having regard to Articles 4, 191, 230 and 258 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

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having regard to Regulation (EU) No 995/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2010 laying down the obligations of operators who place timber and timber products on the market (1) (EU Timber Regulation),

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having regard to Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (2) (Habitats Directive),

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having regard to Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2001 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment (3) (Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive),

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having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1367/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 September 2006 on the application of the provisions of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters to Community institutions and bodies (4) (Aarhus Regulation),

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having regard to infringement case INFR(2020)2033 included in the Commission’s infringement package of 12 February 2020,

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having regard to the Commission communication of 20 May 2020 entitled ‘EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 — Bringing nature back into our lives’ (COM(2020)0380),

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having regard to the Commission communication of 16 July 2021 entitled ‘New EU Forest Strategy for 2030’ (COM(2021)0572),

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having regard to the Commission proposal of 17 November 2021 for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the making available on the Union market as well as export from the Union of certain commodities and products associated with deforestation and forest degradation and repealing Regulation (EU) No 995/2010 (COM(2021)0706), aiming to curb EU-driven deforestation and forest degradation,

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having regard to the Commission proposal of 15 December 2021 for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of the environment through criminal law and replacing Directive 2008/99/EC (COM(2021)0851), and the accompanying communication (COM(2021)0814),

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having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/1767 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 October 2021 amending Regulation (EC) No 1367/2006 on the application of the provisions of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters to Community institutions and bodies (5),

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having regard to the question to the Commission on illegal logging in the EU (O-000020/2022 — B9-0016/2022),

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having regard to Rules 136(5) and 132(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

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having regard to the motion for a resolution of the Committee on Petitions,

A.

whereas the Committee on Petitions has received Petitions Nos 0289/2015, 0625/2018, 1248/2019, 0408/2020, 0722/2020 and 1056/2021 raising concerns over increasing illegal logging and specific cases of practices in breach of EU environmental legislation in some Member States, including in Europe’s last remaining primary and old-growth forests, and calling for preventive measures to reduce the risk and magnitude of the environmental damage and threat to human life and well-being;

B.

whereas illegal logging is an activity of serious concern that leads to environmental damage, loss of biodiversity and ecosystem degradation, desertification and soil erosion leading to natural disasters, such as landslides, and has led to the destruction or damage of several Natura 2000 sites and primary and old-growth forests; whereas illegal logging can result in the extinction of protected species and specific habitats for different plant and animal species because those engaged in illegal activities tend to disregard laws that protect valuable forest resources;

C.

whereas Europol estimates that environmental crime is as profitable as drug trafficking, but with a much lower risk of detection and punishment (6);

D.

whereas illegal logging is a major factor in forest degradation, deforestation and climate change, contributing to the deterioration of air quality; whereas illegal logging represents between 15 % and 30 % of international timber production, and has further environmental, social and economic consequences; whereas illegal logging remains largely undetected, thereby hindering the efforts of the EU to reach the goals of the European Green Deal, the European Climate Law and the biodiversity strategy; whereas illegal logging happens very frequently in some of the highest-quality and best-preserved forests in the EU;

E.

whereas products of illegal logging are sold in the EU as certified timber (7); whereas the main existing certification schemes are unable to fully meet the requirements of the applicable legislation; whereas the main schemes assessed in the Commission report of July 2021 on certification and verification schemes in the forest sector have gaps in their legality definitions and their legal requirements are limited in scope or ambiguous in nature; whereas while they do provide a systematic approach to transferring claims throughout the supply chain, for the most part, they do not include the systematic ability to verify — in real time or otherwise — transactions of volumes, species and qualities between entities, thus leaving the systems vulnerable to manipulation and fraud; whereas all main certification schemes are challenged when it comes to identifying and effectively handling corruption issues, the systems in place to identify cases of corruption are relatively limited and the risk of fraud is poorly covered (8);

F.

whereas forests are essential carbon sinks which help to combat climate change;

G.

whereas illegal logging has significant negative socio-economic effects, with local and responsible communities being deprived of their economic livelihood owing to the illicit marketing of illegally cut wood, which in turn encourages delinquency and has a detrimental effect on sustainable local development and legitimate businesses; whereas illegal logging it is often associated with tax evasion, which enables illegal loggers to depress the market value of forest products, leading to market distortion and unfair competition; whereas illegal logging generates revenue loss for the government in terms of lost taxes and duties, and contributes to increased forest management and transaction costs; whereas wood is often logged in one Member State but traded in another; whereas the majority of illegal wood is traded and used as legally logged timber;

H.

whereas there is a lack of consistent, harmonised and comparable data for EU logging, as well as a common definition of illegal logging;

I.

whereas in some cases illegal loggers have been violent towards forestry officials, forest rangers, law enforcement, environmental activists and investigative journalists, resulting in loss of life in at least six reported cases and numerous episodes of violence and harassment against those responsible for the protection of forests;

J.

whereas there are problems arising from the absence of an internationally recognised definition of the activities covered by the concept of ‘illegal logging’; whereas this lack of precision is a serious legal loophole;

K.

whereas corruption and fraud are the main drivers of illegal logging, leading to insufficient enforcement and impunity; whereas this also exacerbates various criminal activities, such as the financing of conflicts and money laundering; whereas EU action is needed to stop illegal logging and deforestation and curb the trade in illegally harvested timber and timber products;

L.

whereas according to Eurojust, environmental crimes have become the fourth most widespread criminal activity at international level;

M.

whereas the EU Timber Regulation lays down rules for the placing on the market of timber and timber products and should prevent illegal logging; whereas the Commission intends to repeal the EU Timber Regulation by means of its proposal for a regulation on the making available on the Union market as well as export from the Union of certain commodities and products associated with deforestation and forest degradation; whereas the European Union should support Member States where there is a lack of good forest governance in combating crime and organised crime preying on forests, and should promote environmental protection, including the protection and sustainable management of forests under Directive 2008/99/EC of 19 November 2008 on the protection of the environment through criminal law (9) and in line with the objectives of the European Green Deal, the biodiversity strategy, the Zero Pollution Action Plan and the Circular Economy Action Plan;

N.

whereas illegal activities lead to unsustainable practices, reduce the value of forests and result in the depreciation of the various environmental, economic and social services provided by forests, thereby leading to outright deforestation and forest degradation;

O.

whereas illegal logging is linked to breaches of human rights and violence, as well as crimes linked to fraud and corruption such as money laundering and tax evasion;

P.

whereas there are several infringement procedures open against Member States for alleged failure to implement EU legislation in this respect;

Q.

whereas under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and other funds managed by Member States, forest owners are currently eligible for compensation for forest-environmental and climate services, support for forest conservation, restoration and protection, and compensation for Natura 2000 forest areas and maintenance and activities improving the resilience and environmental value of forest ecosystems;

R.

whereas the forest management plans of the Member States should correspond to the measures necessary to protect and restore biodiversity in forests, and should be available to the public; notes that not all Natura 2000 site management plans recognise the explicit value of primary and old-growth forests, and that strictly protected forest conservation measures do not completely exclude logging, which can be incompatible with the long-term conservation of primary and old growth forests;

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