Richard Sikkema from Wageningen University (Forest Ecology & Forest Management) presented his work on “Modelling of forest owner responses and smart climate forest (CSF) measures” at the online conference “Forestry – bridge to the future” on the 7th of May 2021.
His presentation can be found here:
Out of a survey among more than 1,000 forest owners (response rate 24%), it can be concluded that 80 percent of Dutch forest owners are increasingly affected by natural disturbances like drought, storms and insect attacks. Many forest owners and – managers would prefer new management alternatives focusing on climate-smart forest measures. The current public subsidies for Dutch forest management (called SNL) are not sufficient to keep the Dutch forests healthy and resilient. The forest owners ask now for extra support for multifunctional forests (including wood production), next to earlier confirmed support for nature forests [read pdf document; in Dutch].
FORCLIMIT attending the FACCE ERA-GAS 2nd Research Programme Meeting & Valorisation Workshop in Amsterdam. Presenting our key policy finding:
“EU has set important restrictions on the potential for forests and forest-based resources to play a more significant role in climate change mitigation strategies of EU Member states”.
Read more on our poster (link).
Background for key policy finding
The 2015 Paris Agreement has breathed new life into the role of forests in the climate policy framework – and thus potentially the larger-than-life human welfare improvements forests can provide. Skepticism, however, dominates policymaker views on the forest role. Though accurate accounting is important, the mobilization of forest potential requires imaginative policy and financing frameworks, incentives and relevant strategies for encouraging forest and forestry-related, climate-friendly action on the part of forest owners, consumers and the global community. Finding inventive ways to mobilize forest potential in the climate policy framework may prove essential to maneuvering the perils of the global climate challenge.
In contrast to some other countries and regions in the world, the European Union has, for the most part, elected to sequester the forest role behind a Pillar, a cap, and a Forest Reference Level (FRL), all of which set important restrictions on the potential for forests and forest-based resources to play a more significant role in the emission reduction and climate change mitigation strategies of EU Member states. This of course does not stop EU Member states from placing more emphasis on the forest role. But it eliminates a large part of the incentive for doing so. Other countries, on the other hand, have opted to accelerate the forest role in climate change mitigation and have proposed strategies, many of which could provide real and meaningful incentives for mobilizing forests and forest-based resources.
Last week in February 2019 Dr. Richard Sikkema from Wageningen University presented a topic partly founded by the FORCLIMIT project activities in Austria at the World Sustainable Energy Days. The presentation on “Mobilizing wood for bioenergy” was presented on the European Pellet Conference (WSED).
The Swedish FORCLIMIT partner SLU (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) organized together with The European Commission’s Joint Research a side-event in Katowice on December 8th 2018. The topic for the side-event was the forest and climate policy under the Paris Agreement.
Two panels were organized with contributions from INRA, FAO, WRI
Read more about the side-event in the flyer that can be found here.
Issue 2 of the FACCE ERA-GAS newsletter is out! Continue reading “FACCE ERA-GAS Newsletter March 2018”
FORCLIMIT staff participated in two meetings in Brussels discussing how to develop the Forest Reference Line. Continue reading “How do we develop the Forest Reference Line?”
In July 2016, the European Commission (EC) published a legislative proposal for incorporating greenhouse gas emissions and removals due to Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) into its 2030 Climate and Energy Framework. Continue reading “By 2050 the Mitigation Effects of EU Forests Could Nearly Double through Climate Smart Forestry”
