Open letter from the community for the full consideration of Earth Observation in the EU Forest Monitoring Law

Recognizing the increasing pressures on European forests, a community of Earth Observation (EO) experts have issued an open letter for consideration in shaping the Forest Monitoring Law (FML). The law as proposed by the European Commission includes the collection and sharing of timely and comparable forest data obtained through a combination of ground-based measurements and Earth Observation technology.
The EO community recognizes that the FML is currently being negotiated at the EU policy level and that there are considerations of the role EO in the available FML draft documents and recent discussions on the legislation. At the same time there seems to be some divergence of opinions and misunderstandings on the role EO should play in future forest monitoring in Europe. With the following letter, we summarize and explain the importance EO can play for underpinning a more resilient and sustainable future for European forests.

The letter has been signed by 78 forest Earth Observation scientists and experts from 17 European countries.

We hope that this community input helps the policy development process for shaping and implementing an efficient and integrated forest monitoring framework in the context of the FML.