Scientists confirm harvesting as main culprit behind European forest disturbances
9 Juli 2024
In June 2024, a cutting-edge analysis published in Nature Communications confirmed tree harvesting as the main driver of increasing disturbances to European forests; it also highlighted that harvesting magnifies risks of canopy openings from wind, wildfire and bark beetles. This research underscores the need to curb demand for wood and to reorient harmful subsidies towards the Nature Restoration and Forest Monitoring Laws.
Using modelling to analyse satellite images, the authors determined the amplitude and causes of canopy disturbances. Contrary to what is often portrayed in the public debate, they found that “disturbance change is not solely an effect of climate change”. Rather, a staggering 82.2% of canopy openings between 1986 and 2020 were “planned” (i.e., resulted from tree harvesting for resource extraction).
What is more, canopy openings have increased since the turn of the century, due to a feedback loop between anthropogenic (planned) and ecological (unplanned) disturbances. The scientists give several examples: clearcut harvesting can increase the susceptibility to unplanned openings like wind damage or bark beetles; plantation forests can intensify unplanned wildfires. But it also works the other way - bark beetle attacks can result in salvage logging, and the opening of logging tracks in undisturbed forests.
The authors outline policy implications: Past forest-risk management to increase resistance to fires, wind and bark beetles (such as establishing trees adapted to the future climate) has failed to counteract ecological disturbances. Policy should instead reduce harvesting for resource extraction and focus on recovery and restoration in areas affected by wind, fires or bark beetles. In areas where disturbances have destroyed forests, they recommend “utilizing unplanned canopy openings as opportunities [… to] align forest management interventions better with ecological processes,” specifically citing close to nature management, and diversity in both structure and composition, as means of doing so.
Implications for EU policy are threefold.
Curbing demand for wood should be at the core of any upcoming bioeconomy strategy, as it is necessary to reduce planned disturbances. The current focus on substituting fossil-based products for wood-based products (for instance, in the Packaging Regulation FW 291, and the Renewable Energy Directive) risks intensifying disturbances in forests. Studies indicate that the climate harm from increased harvests is greater than the benefits from avoiding fossil emissions.
Next, both the increases in disturbances and the authors’ call to focus on post-disturbance recovery should direct policymakers’ attention to implementation of the Nature Restoration Law. With proper guidance and funding, Member States could use it to transition damaged forests to continuous cover management, benefiting forest resilience and climate.
Finally, the study points to both the necessity and technical feasibility of a strong Forest Monitoring Law. Satellites already provide spatially explicit, high-resolution data on forests. If this Law is ambitious, the EU will become a forerunner for generating high resolution, accessible data on forests. The feedback loop between silvicultural disturbances and climate change disturbances will strongly impact forests in ways that are unpredictable, increasing the need for regular, comprehensive and harmonised monitoring.
Kategorien: News, Forest Watch, European forests
