Land and biodiversity policies/Forestry sector

Relevant overviews

Policy interventions overview

References

FAO, 2013a IEA, 2012 Putz et al., 2012

Changing wood consumption

Interventions that target shifts in the consumption of forest products directly influence the demand for wood and, therefore, also affect the need to take forestry areas into production (PBL, 2010). This demand increase could be in industrial round wood or paper, but also in the use of wood as a traditional biomass. As a first-order effect, an intervention to change the demand for industrial products reduces all downstream effects of production proportionally. Exact data on the use of wood for traditional biomass as yet is unavailable, and estimates vary greatly, partly due to their varying focus on use or production. Those estimates range from approximately 1300 Mt/yr (FAO, 2013a) to approximately 2400 Mt/yr (IEA, 2012). Thus, a considerable part of the total wood use can be attributed to fuel wood. A decrease in the use of wood for traditional biomass has fewer direct impacts on the IMAGE biodiversity results than decreases in other uses, since only part of the production is harvested in industrial forestry activities (see Forest management). Large amounts of fuel wood are collected or produced on areas smaller than are included in the level of detail of the IMAGE framework, such as orchards or road sides. This implies that interventions related to this kind of use do not completely show up in biodiversity impacts.

Table: Policy interventions Changing wood consumption

Policy intervention	Description	Implemented in/affected component
Increase access

(*) Implementing component.

Managing bio-energy demand

Bio-energy demand will impact the demand for forestry products from the energy sector. The same effects as described under the shifts in consumption may also be expected here. The ultimate impact on biodiversity will depend on the sustainability criteria, the management practices, and the regions in which the wood will be harvested.

Table: Policy interventions Managing bio-energy demand

Policy intervention	Description	Implemented in/affected component
‎Implementation of sustainability criteria in bio-energy production	Sustainability criteria that could become binding for dedicated bio-energy production, such as the restrictive use of water-scarce or degraded areas.	Emissions Energy supply(*) Terrestrial biodiversity

(*) Implementing component.

Improving forest management

Improving forest management will impact the area needed to meet the demand as well as the impact of wood harvest on biodiversity loss. A system of Reduced Impact Logging (RIL), which relates to several improvements that can be implemented within selective logging management, could reduce harvest damage, stimulate regrowth and maintain biodiversity (Putz et al., 2012). In addition, the establishment of dedicated wood plantations could decrease the size of the natural forest area needed for wood harvest, since wood productivity is higher in those plantation areas. However the biodiversity values of those areas are relatively low.

Agricultural expansion in forest areas results in wood harvest. Declining the rate of agricultural expansion, therefore, leads to fewer wood products and, thus, to an increase in the area needed for forestry in order to meet the wood demand (PBL, 2010); see Forest management). Options for alternative forest management have been evaluated in the report Rethinking Global Biodiversity Strategies (PBL, 2010).

Table: Policy interventions Improving forest management

Policy intervention	Description	Implemented in/affected component
Sustainable forest management
Increase Reduced Impact Logging

(*) Implementing component.