Call: Sustainable Food Systems law must be published

As part of the Green Deal, the European Commission promised to deliver a proposal for a Sustainable Food Systems law (SFS) this autumn, which could put all food policy under one umbrella and set ambitious standards across the board.

However, Ursula von der Leyen didn’t mention sustainable food systems in her State of the Union speech on 13 September. Instead, she praised the work that European farmers are already doing and spoke for reduced polarisation between sustainability and production interests and presented a seemingly new initiative: “a strategic dialogue on the future of agriculture in the EU.”

The week before, 160 organisations and academics had urged her to “comply with her own working programme” and present the proposal before the European elections next year

While waiting for the law to be published, European civil society is mobilising. The Good Food Good Farming alliance has made a call for “a strong SFS law – based on science and social needs” the core topic of its annual action days in October.

Open letter: https://foodpolicycoalition.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Joint-open-let...

Good Food Good Farming campaign https://www.goodfoodgoodfarming.eu/

In this issue

Editorial: EU climate target still not adapted to climate reality

On 8 September, the UN once again issued a report showing how governments are failing to take adequate action to implement the promises they made in the Paris Agreement. The so-called Synthesis Report on the Technical Dialogue from the First Global Stocktake showed how governments are good at making ambitious collective commitments but fail to take the right action at home to turn these collective pledges into a reality.

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The importance and role of forests in Poland

A varity of forest types in Poland play an important role in the country's ecosystem and cultural heritage.

Poland is home to a variety of forest types, which cover an area of nearly 9.3 million hectares and account for 29.6% of the country’s total land area. These forests play an important role in the country’s ecosystem, economy and cultural heritage. The forests are dominated by coniferous species, which together cover 76.6% of the area. These include pine, larch, spruce and fir. Deciduous species appear on 23.4% of the area.

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