Expanding Reduced Impact Logging

Description:	Increasing the share of produced wood yielded with Reduced Impact Logging (RIL) practices instead of conventional logging practices.
Reference:	PBL, 2010;
Is implemented in:	Forest management
Associated theme items:	Forestry (Land use)

Associated policy response component

Component: Land and biodiversity policies
Page: Land and biodiversity policies/Forestry sector

Effects of this policy intervention on components

Component: Forest management
Effect : Increasing RIL can lead to considerably increase in timber harvest (=less losses) and thus less land being used for forestry. Increasing RIL also result in less available forest residues that could, for example, be used for energy production.

Component: Natural vegetation and carbon cycle
Effect : Because of more effective harvest and less losses, increasing RIL will change the volume of the C pools in the soil and vegetation pools. And because of less losses also the human induced land-use change emissions become smaller.

Component: Terrestrial biodiversity
Effect : The impacts on biodiversity is lower using RIL practices instead of the conventional practices. This because (i) less forets will be used (higher biodiversity on large scale); (ii) a better and faster regrowth of the harvested forests, also thus a long-term increasing biodiversity also within these forests.