Fern NGO

Fern is looking for a Finance, Administration and Human Resources Management #Intern to support our finance and administrative processes. ✔️ Paid internship  📍️ Based in Brussels, Belgium  📅 Deadline to apply: 19 November 2024  The internship offers an opportunity to gain hands-on experience in finance, travel management, operations and HR procedures, as well as organisational development initiatives focused on gender, the future of the #EU, financial stability, and knowledge management. Click here to learn more and apply 👇   https://lnkd.in/eNttAcsN Help us spread the word by sharing this opportunity with your networks! #Hiring #Internship #JobOpening #Employment #Careers 

A new Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) study reveals that the United Kingdom cannot reach its zero-carbon goal through the use of #bioenergy with #CCS (#BECCS). In fact, the study found that the technology would actually increase logging in forests and overall greenhouse gas (#GHG) emissions. The European Commission Carbon Removals Certification Framework Expert Group meets this week to discuss how to account for carbon removals from #BECCS and other technologies. The first step must be to ensure they don’t add more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere!     Unfortunately, the methodologies for biomass-based removals presently being discussed in the group (BECCS and #biochar) stick to the discredited EU Renewable Energy Directive (#RED) framework which counts biomass emissions as zero in the energy sector, and ignores indirect land use change (ILUC) and biomass supply chain emissions. The credibility of the whole Carbon Removals Certification Framework (#CRCF), and with it that of the EU’s climate policy, is at stake. #BigBadBiomass #ForestsAreNotFuel #InternationalDayOfAction Christian Holzleitner Fabien Ramos Wopke Hoekstra Dan Jørgensen Ursula von der Leyen Peter Van Kemseke Chris Malins Tiemo Wölken 

Finland’s forest sink is collapsing due to unsustainable forest management and the impacts of the climate crisis. This is bad news for forests, but also makes it hard for Finland to meet its EU land sector climate commitments (under the #LULUCF Regulation). The situation is well explained in a recent article by Patrick Greenfield. Sadly, the tragedy he outlines is not new. The Finnish government assigned the Finnish Environmental Institute to explore measures to reverse the worrying trend but picked up none of the recommended measures, leading to NGOs suing the Government for inaction in August. What’s more, this isn’t an isolated case. Germany recently acknowledged that its forests are net carbon dioxide emitters; two years ago, Sweden noted a startling drop in its forests’ sequestration capacity; and France is likely to miss its land sink targets. The reason? EU forests are overexploited and sustainability is poorly defined, meaning optimistic talk of shifting from fossil to bio in energy and material use could do more harm than good. Unless Member States seriously commit to forest restoration, scraps wasteful use of wood, and respects the limits of what land can offer, EU 2040 Climate talks could be disastrous for forests. Read more in The Guardian: https://lnkd.in/d4BRrrFZ

🆕 The latest issue of our #ForestWatch newsletter is out!      👉 While only a year ago we were celebrating getting the EU Regulation on deforestation-free products (#EUDR) onto the statute books, we are now suddenly faced with the possibility of a year-long delay, as proposed by the EU Commission in early October.     There can be no upside to a delay that will spell the end of vast tracts of forest globally (an area the size of Luxembourg)! The EU must therefore ensure a razor-sharp focus on finalising key details about the law’s implementation and strike the all important partnerships with producer countries.     👉 The EU has published its long-awaited Strategic Framework for International Cooperation Engagement on #Deforestation.     As it stands, the Framework is a missed opportunity, cleared of the incentives and guidance needed to ensure the EUDR delivers fair effective partnerships to improve forest governance, writes Indra Van Gisbergen.     👉 Industry have reacted to the proposed EU #ForestMonitoring Law by raising concerns about overburdensome bureaucracy.     Kelsey Perlman explains why the Law, which is based on satellite monitoring and is thus more likely to reduce than increase forest bureaucracy, is essential legislation allowing us to track forest issues and learn how to deliver resilient #forests.     👉 This month's partner article brings us to the Republic of Congo, where plans to elevate agricultural production into the heart of the economy could fundamentally affect nature and peoples’ rights.     When it is finally implemented, the EUDR could be an important tool against such dangers, and could achieve even more if its scope was extended to other key ecosystems, such as savannahs and peatlands, writes Phons Louis NTOUMBOU, Forum for Governance and Human Rights (FGDH). This article is also available in French.     Read more and sign up 👇   https://lnkd.in/dwx6-bSj     🔗 Links to the articles in the first comment!

Tomorrow, #EU ambassadors are expected to give the green light to the European Commission’s proposal to delay the application of the EU deforestation-free products regulation (#EUDR) by twelve months. 225 civil society organisations from over 40 countries have issued a joint statement, calling on all national EU governments and the European Parliament to reject the Commission’s proposal. The EUDR is the flagship achievement of the #EuropeanGreenDeal. It is a world-first in the fight against #deforestation, #forest degradation and associated #HumanRights impacts, which are driven by European production and consumption of products like beef, leather, palm oil, coffee, cocoa, timber, rubber, and soy. The world’s #forests urgently need the protection that the EUDR offers. By delaying its application and giving into the demands of vested interests, the European Commission is: 👉 significantly undermining the EU’s credibility as a global leader in the fight against #ClimateChange, #biodiversity loss and #HumanRights violations 👉 effectively rewarding those companies who are continuing to profit from environmental destruction  👉 penalising those who have already spent resources to comply with the EUDR 👉 weakening the overall integrity of EU policy-making 👉 putting the European Green Deal into question 👉 sending a signal to other major consuming countries that any regulatory measures to reach deforestation-free supply chains can wait #Forests are key to a liveable future. They must be protected. Members of the European Parliament and national EU governments: reject the European Commission’s proposal to delay the EUDR! Read the full #Together4Forests statement here: https://lnkd.in/epZFHvpS Tiemo Wölken Pascal Canfin Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy Marie Toussaint Bernd Lange Kathleen Van Brempt Mohammed Chahim Permanent Representation of Austria to the EU Permanent Representation of Finland to the EU Permanent Representation of Greece to the European Union | Η Ελλάδα στις Βρυξέλλες Permanent Representation of Lithuania to the EU Permanent Representation of Poland to the EU Permanent Representation of the Slovak Republic to the EU Représentation permanente de la France auprès de l’Union européenne 🇫🇷🇪🇺 Representación Permanente de España en la UE | Permanent Representation of Spain to the EU

🌳 Indigenous Peoples and local communities are #forests’ best stewards, and Community Forests hold immense potential to strengthen their rights and empowerment. This would foster social stability and support local economies thanks to responsible #forestry practices. It is worrying therefore that #logging companies often influence the community forest application process to the detriment of local communities.  #CorporateCapture – the appropriation of forest resources by elites and corporations – remains a challenge in West and Central Africa, leaving communities without adequate benefits or control over their forests. Over 50 organisations have signed a letter, calling on the Governments of The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Norway, Germany and the United States, and the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) to support and finance Community Forest Management solutions and halt financing industrial plantations and logging. Read the letter here 👉 https://lnkd.in/ebyhrDgN  Centre pour l'Environnement et le Développement (CED) Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) Milieudefensie Samuel Nguiffo Jonathan Yiah Vera de Regt

📢 Fern is looking for a #Communications Intern to help increase its reach by initiating, developing and disseminating its content! The role includes supporting the production and distribution of publications and videos, managing Fern’s website and social media pages, producing compelling visuals, and assisting with webinar and event logistics. The role is a six-month, paid #internship and is based in Brussels. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis. Click here to learn more and apply 👇  https://lnkd.in/e--SK24b Help us spread the word by sharing this opportunity with your networks! #Hiring #Internship #JobOpening #Employment #Careers

Last week, the European Commission put forward a proposal to delay the #EU deforestation regulation by 12 months. What happens next is up to EU #MemberStates and the European Parliament. Tomorrow, Permanent Representatives from each Member State will convene at the Coreper meeting and review the proposal. EU Member States must stand firm and stand by the #EUDR – a pioneering and desperately needed law. As progressive companies such as Tony's Chocolonely say: Delaying our collective fight against deforestation puts progress on hold. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/eRXNZKsV Permanent Representation of Austria to the EU Permanent Representation of Finland to the EU Permanent Representation of Greece to the European Union | Η Ελλάδα στις Βρυξέλλες Permanent Representation of Lithuania to the EU Permanent Representation of Poland to the EU Permanent Representation of the Slovak Republic to the EU Représentation permanente de la France auprès de l’Union européenne 🇫🇷🇪🇺 Representación Permanente de España en la UE | Permanent Representation of Spain to the EU

The European Commission signalled that it intends to “step up dialogue” with partner countries in its proposal to postpone the application of the EU Deforestation Regulation by one year. The #EU has already started partnership discussions with #Indonesia and #Malaysia through the Joint EU-Indonesia-Malaysia Task Force on #EUDR implementation - a crucial forum in which to discuss the urgent issues of forest protection and the interconnection with economic opportunities. Unfortunately, the lack of inclusive participation and political will from all Parties and strong siloes within the #EU hamper meaningful partnerships. We call on the future College of the Commission to join-up thinking within the Commission and offer a more compelling partnership to Indonesia and Malaysia. The EUDR must be implemented collaboratively and with sufficient and well-targeted technical and financial support from the EU. If the EUDR increases #transparency, supports #smallholders and improves forest governance, it will be a gamechanger in efforts to protect #forests, mitigate #ClimateChange, and respect Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ rights. Read the full statement here: https://lnkd.in/ePWuaWe8