Fern (also Stichting Fern) is a Dutch foundation created in 1995.[2] It is an international Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) set up to keep track of the European Union's (EU) involvement in forests and coordinate NGO activities at the European level. Fern works to protect forests and the rights of people who depend on them.[2]
Fern's official mission statement is "To increase understanding of, and access to, European policy making; and to campaign for policies and practices in Europe that focus on forests and forest peoples’ rights and deliver economic, environmental and social justice globally.”[2]
History
Fern's origin lies in the World Rainforest Movement meeting in Penang in 1989.[6] At this meeting Southern participants decided they needed closer co-operation with a network of like-minded European organisations to further their objectives. An already existing ad hoc European coalition of NGOs responded and adopted the name European Rainforest Movement. This movement changed its name into Forest Movement Europe in 1994 after linking up with the newly formed Taiga Rescue Network (1992) and widening its focus to all forests, including Russia.
As most NGOs of the Forest Movement Europe were working at national level, and increasingly trade and aid decisions that impacted on forests were made at EU level, it was felt by most in the movement that more attention should be given to influencing the EU institutions. So, in March 1995 Saskia Ozinga (formerly working for Friends of the Earth in the Netherlands) and Sian Pettman (formerly working for the European Commission) created the Fern with a mandate to monitor EU activities relating to forests, and inform and educate the Forest Movement Europe about these activities and facilitate joint advocacy work towards the different EU institutions.
Starting in 1995 with Ozinga and Pettman both working part-time, the former from a shed in Oxford, the latter from a desk in Brussels, Fern has grown to an organisation of between 15 and 20 staff, while its area of work has widened to include climate change, carbon trading, finance, governance and development aid.[7][8] Consistent themes in Fern's campaigns include tackling the corruption, lack of transparency and power imbalances which it says are among the universal causes of both legal and illegal forest destruction, and putting forest communities at the heart of decision-making about policies affecting them.
Fern's way of working still reflects its origin, as in its activities the organisation aims to create ad hoc or permanent North-South, North-North or South-South NGO coalitions to jointly develop campaigns or activities, mostly - but not always - targeted at the EU institutions. Facilitation of the wider movement and supporting Fern's partners in the South remain Fern core activities.
In March 2018, Fern's co-founder and Campaigns Coordinator Saskia Ozinga stepped down after 23 years with Fern. Hannah Mowat took over as the organisation's Campaigns Coordinator.[9]
Fields of activity
The organisation campaigns in many areas with a direct or indirect impact on forests and forest peoples' rights. It focuses specifically on the policies and practices of the European Union, since together with its Member States, the EU is collectively the world's single biggest aid donor,[10] and also plays a pivotal role in global trade, and therefore has a vast influence on the fate of the world's forests and their inhabitants.
To achieve its aims, Fern produces original research in briefings and reports; it builds NGO coalitions with its partners and affected peoples in the global South and Europe, and campaigns collaboratively with them; it raises awareness among decision-makers and proposes specific policy changes to tackle the threats facing the world's forests.
A significant portion of Fern's funding is channelled to its partners in tropical forested countries, and Fern says it prioritises supporting them (including in the form of building capacity and strengthening their advocacy skills) as they understand the issues facing forests in their countries first-hand.[2]
Fern also plays a coordinating role in building networks and alliances among NGOs, a prime example being the annual Forest Movement Europe (FME) meeting which it organises.
Since 1996, Fern has published Forest Watch, a monthly specialist newsletter covering the latest developments in efforts to protect the world's forests.[11]
Campaigns
Fern currently focuses on forests in relation to four overarching forest issues: Climate, Consumption, Development Aid and Trade.[3] To achieve its aims, Fern works closely with environmental as well as social NGOs in Europe and the South.
Fern’s sustainable supply chains campaign focuses on the biggest cause of deforestation globally: agriculture.[15] The EU is the world's second biggest importer of agricultural goods causing deforestation.[16] Fern campaigns to end EU imports of commodities - such as soy, palm oil and cocoa - grown on (often) illegally deforested land. In 2023, the EU adopted the Regulation on deforestation-free products,[17] a long-awaited law Fern pushed for in the last decade. Fern now works to ensure the Regulation is effectively implemented in consultation and partnership with producer countries.
As part of its trade and sustainable supply chain campaigns, Fern has been instrumental in highlighting what it says are the damaging potential human rights and environmental impacts of the European Union - Mercosur free trade agreement.[18][19][20] Fern’s sustainable supply chain and trade campaigns also focus on ensuring trade in transition minerals does not lead to harm for forests and peoples by campaigning on the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRM Act).[21]
Fern’s consumption campaign aims to ensure that EU policies can fairly and swiftly reduce European consumption of Forest Risk Commodities. Fern campaigns to reduce pulp and paper[22] use through work on the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR)[23] in response to the dramatically increase of paper consumption. Fern also works to reduce European meat consumption by leveraging the EU Sustainable Food System Framework.[24][25] The meat industry is responsible for a large share of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and contributes substantially to deforestation, water scarcity and biodiversity loss.[26][27]
The Forest Governance campaign works to ensure that forest communities have stronger rights to their forests and benefit from transparent and inclusive forest management practices and processes.
Some of the most visible Fern achievements include:
Convincing the EU to regulate against imported deforestation; A decade long advocacy work by Fern, its allies and organisations in the Global South, contributed to the adoption of the EU Regulation on deforestation-free products, the world’s first law of its kind;[28]
Pushing for the EU to play a key role in tackling climate change; In the latest review of the Land Use Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) Regulation, Fern successfully advocated for biodiversity criteria and targets;[29]
The rejection of the scientifically flawed concept of planting trees to reverse climate change (‘carbon sinks’) by the European Parliament;
Highlighting the undue and unjust influence by large companies on environmental and social laws in host countries when executing large projects, such as the Chad-Cameroon pipeline;[30]
Improving integration of environmental concerns and demands for recognition of indigenous peoples rights' into EU aid programmes and policies and the creation of networks of Southern NGOs to improve the quality of EU aid;
Getting the EU to reduce illegal logging and improve forest governance through adopting and implementing the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan - a pioneering programme to tackle illegal imports of timber, strengthen community rights and improve the way forests are managed;[31] Fern is also co-manager of the FLEGT website "LoggingOff".
Successfully coordinating the European network for reforming export credit agencies leading to the adoption of environmental guidelines for export credit agencies.
Some of Fern's successes have reduced threats to forest communities' livelihoods. For example, Fern's work on highlighting the flaws in carbon sinks and direct correspondence with the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) board, has led the CDM board to reject all plantation projects put to it, many of which would have had serious negative impacts on people.
The EU FLEGT Action Plan to combat illegal logging would not have been drafted without Fern. This Action Plan - if implemented properly - will create a leverage point to get customary rights accepted as 'legal' in countries including Indonesia (which is already exporting FLEGT timber), Ghana, Cameroon, Vietnam and Guyana: the lack of recognition of these rights are among the most significant obstacles to poverty alleviation, justice and even democracy.
Moreover, the campaign on reforming ECAs led to halting ECA funding and the subsequent cancellation of some projects, which would have had serious negative consequences for local people, such as in the case of the Ilisu Dam in Turkey which would have led to the replacement of around 80,000 people, with women suffering most.
Funding
Fern receives its money from private foundations and governments. In order to ensure its independence and impartiality, Fern has committed to not directly participate in the selection, award or administration of a contract when a real or apparent conflict of interest may be involved. Fern's audited finances are available from their website.[32]
The European Environment Agency (EEA) is the agency of the European Union (EU) which provides independent information on the environment.
The environmental movement is a social movement that aims to protect the natural world from harmful environmental practices in order to create sustainable living. Environmentalists advocate the just and sustainable management of resources and stewardship of the environment through changes in public policy and individual behavior. In its recognition of humanity as a participant in ecosystems, the movement is centered on ecology, health, as well as human rights.
Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a protected area; the cutting down of protected species; or the extraction of timber in excess of agreed limits. Illegal logging is a driving force for a number of environmental issues such as deforestation, soil erosion and biodiversity loss which can drive larger-scale environmental crises such as climate change and other forms of environmental degradation.
The Forest Stewardship Council GmbH (FSC) is an international non-profit, multistakeholder organization established in 1993 that promotes responsible management of the world's forests via timber certification. This organization uses a market-based approach to transnational environmental policy.
The Forest Movement Europe (FME) is a grouping of more than 45 NGOs from 12 European countries working on forest issues. The movement has been in existence, although under different names, for more than 15 years. Its purpose is to share information, to develop joint strategies and a wider European perspective on forest issues. The FME also supports NGOs and Indigenous Peoples Organisations in the South in their activities to protect forests.
The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is an international NGO founded in 1984 in the United Kingdom by environmental activists Dave Currey, Jennifer Lonsdale and Allan Thornton. At present, it has offices in London and Washington, D.C. The EIA covertly investigates and campaigns against environmental crime and abuse.
Saskia Luutsche Ozinga is a Dutch environmental and social activist. She is the facilitator of the Forest Movement Europe (FME) and the co-founder of the NGO FERN, which she was the campaigns coordinator, between 1995 and 2017.
The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) founded in 2000 by Steve Trent and Juliette Williams that works to secure a world where natural habitats and environments can sustain, and be sustained by, the communities that depend upon them for their basic needs and livelihoods. It promotes global environmental justice, which it defines as “equal access to a secure and healthy environment for all, in a world where wildlife can thrive alongside humanity.”
Iola Leal Riesco is a Spanish environmental and social activist working for European Forest Institute and Well Grounded. Her educational background is in the field of forest and human ecology. Since 2003 she has been working to help solve the challenges of integrating environmental issues into EC Aid policies and improve governance in forests globally. Her work continues to center upon EU policies as well as following closely the EU action plan for Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade. In 2010, she set up with Cath Long the organisation Well Grounded, which provides services and support to African civil society organisations working with communities to help them assert their rights and to improve forest governance.
A Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) is a bilateral timber-trade agreement between the European Union and a timber-exporting country outside the EU. VPAs are a key element of the EU FLEGT Action Plan, which aims to address illegal logging.
Kriton Arsenis is an environmentalist, and MP in the Greek Parliament. He is a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) (2009-2014).
Friends of the Earth Europe (FoEE) is the European branch of the world's largest grassroots environmental network, Friends of the Earth International (FOEI). It includes 33 national organizations and thousands of local groups.
Sustainable products are products who are either sustainability sourced, manufactured or processed that provide environmental, social and economic benefits while protecting public health and environment over their whole life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials until the final disposal.
The European Union (EU) Environmental Policy was initiated in 1973 with the "Environmental Action Programme" at which point the Environmental Unit was formed. The policy has thereafter evolved "to cover a vast landscape of different topics enacted over many decades" (Reuters) and in 2015 the Institute for European Environmental Policy estimated that "the body of EU environmental law" amounted to 500+ directives, regulations and decisions.
"Over the past decades the European Union has put in place a broad range of environmental legislation. As a result, air, water and soil pollution has significantly been reduced. Chemicals legislation has been modernised and the use of many toxic or hazardous substances has been restricted. Today, EU citizens enjoy some of the best water quality in the world"
The European Union Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Action Plan is a European Union initiative to address illegal logging and the social, economic and environmental harm it causes. The EU adopted the Action Plan in 2003. The plan includes activities in the EU and in tropical countries that export timber and timber products to the EU. These measures include a regulation that prohibits EU businesses from importing or trading illegal timber, and bilateral trade agreements with timber-exporting countries. Much of the FLEGT Action Plan focuses on promoting trade in legal timber products and creating disincentives for trade in illegal products. However, the Action Plan's measures go further by addressing aspects of poor governance that enable illegal logging to persist.
The European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) aims to counter illegal logging and associated trade in timber and timber products in the member states of the European Union, and ultimately contribute to sustainable management of forests and reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation beyond EU borders. The EUTR establishes obligations on 'operators' who place timber and timber products on the market and on 'traders' who buy or sell timber or timber products already on the internal market.
The European Union–Mercosur free trade agreement is a proposed free trade agreement on which the European Union and Mercosur reached agreement in principle in 2019. The planned deal was announced on 28 June at the 2019 G20 Osaka summit after twenty years of negotiations. The agreement is criticized by NGOs, scientists, unions, farmers and indigenous people.
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