with the issue of review project (France) Alain Carsenti explores our diverse relationships with forests, writing about the “mirage of offsets” – the idea that carbon emissions can be compensated for by planting or protecting forests. Companies like to talk about “carbon neutrality” because it allows them to “avoid fundamental questioning of their economic model.” However, such projects do not fulfill their promise.
One problem is time. It takes decades for trees to be locked up to offset the carbon planted. Attempting to solve this problem by planting fast-growing seeds will only make the situation worse in the long run. This is because such species have short lifespans and can only store carbon for a short period of time. Unfortunately, “more than half of the world’s current or planned forest ‘restoration’ projects are of this type,” Karsenti writes.
Other disadvantages of offsets include carbon leakage due to tensions with local stakeholders over land use, and increased vulnerability of forests to wildfires, drought and pests. Financial incentives to encourage governments to implement sustainable forest policies are also problematic. To work, it must take into account the “complex nature of the state, where political decisions are driven by vested interests and corruption rather than being the product of rational cost-benefit assessments.” A consistent framework for evaluating projects by independent experts is also essential.
Ultimately, Karsenti says, offsets alone won’t be enough to stop deforestation. Policies such as tax breaks for certified “deforestation-free” products will be needed to encourage consumers to change their habits.
Rallying for a Green Deal
In Europe, this kind of political will is wavering. Kelsey Pearlman examines the issues surrounding the European Green Deal, launched in 2019 as an ambitious roadmap to make the EU the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050. Its aim is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect the EU’s natural lands. But that pillar is being undermined by “economic pressures, geopolitical tensions and anti-regulatory rhetoric”, all of which are exacerbated by the far-right’s rise in the 2024 European elections.
For example, despite the EU deforestation regulation being widely popular among EU citizens, an “alliance of far-right groups and the EPP” is trying to force the European Parliament to water it down to the point of “stripping it of substance”. The future of this regulation is still undetermined.
Conservative and far-right MPs are also colluding with European Forestry to push through legislation to improve forestry data collection in Europe. Perlman argues that industry lobbies “don’t want the debate about industrial forest management to be informed by more accurate data.”
Meanwhile, attempts to adopt legislation requiring member states to restore rather than simply preserve degraded ecosystems faced fierce resistance not only from the EPP, but also from Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and other countries with large forestry sectors. This “creeping deregulation”, fueled by far-right anti-environmentalism, poses a serious threat to “the ambition to ensure that Europe’s environmental policy is commensurate with the current climate and biodiversity emergency”.
At the grassroots level, Perlman writes, people are coming together to protect Europe’s forests. One such initiative is Green-Forest, which aims to improve forest management and protect forests in France’s Vercors massif. Its founder Benoît Coulet explains that one of the obstacles to implementing sustainable practices in France is that forests are often divided into many small parcels (averaging 4 hectares) and land ownership is fragmented. Coordination with owners becomes difficult, given that forestry projects have long lives, can take decades to produce results, and land can change hands many times during that time.
One way to prevent sustainable projects from becoming bogged down in conflict and reduce the burden of red tape for forest managers who “have to maintain relationships with thousands of different owners” is to GROUPMENTS FORETIA. These are run by legal representatives who have sole responsibility for decision-making.
It was originally created by families decades ago to “avoid the pitfalls and impenetrable impasses of joint ownership.” GROUPMENTS FORETIA It has been adopted by Green-Forest and other civil society organizations and is used to manage forests in an environmentally friendly manner. Green-Forest buys forests from private owners in Vercors and creates hundreds of hectares of territory that can be managed sustainably in an efficient and rational way, ensuring that “forest and ecological interests take precedence over economic interests.”
mixed forest, sustainable wood
Another organization working to promote a more sustainable approach to forest management is Pro Silva. Its director, Antoine Cadre, describes its goal as “to promote mixed species continuous cover forestry (MCCF), based on an irregular approach that respects the natural processes of forest ecosystems.” The MCCF has also already been incorporated into forest laws in Wallonia, Belgium, Slovenia and Switzerland. However, its introduction in France is once again hampered by the fact that 75 percent of forests in France are owned by small landowners.
Rather than clear-cutting entire areas and replanting a single species, MCCF’s goal is to maintain forests as irregularly structured, highly diverse “high-functioning ecosystems” by harvesting a small number of carefully selected trees on a rolling basis. Mixed forests produce higher quality timber and are more resistant to natural disasters and pests, providing both environmental and commercial benefits of increased biodiversity.
As the demand for wood as a sustainable resource increases, current wood production models are reaching their limits. As Cadelet says, “In intensive forestry, there is a belief that the forest must adapt to the needs of the industry.” But we believe that it is the industry that must adapt to what the forest can offer. ”
Published in cooperation with cairn international versionwritten by Cadenza Academic Translations.
Source: Eurozine – www.eurozine.com
