Two new guidelines under the EU Green Deal for sustainable forest management and payment schemes for forest ecosystem services have been published by the European Commission.
The “closer-to-nature” guidelines aim to strengthen forest multifunctionality and resilience to climate change, while fostering long-term economic and other societal benefits.
The guidance on payment schemes presents a variety of ways in which land managers, including foresters, may derive monetary benefits from the provision of the different ecosystem services.
Despite the value of, and increasing demand for, the large variety of forest ecosystem services, wood production remains the main source of income for forest owners and managers.
Financial rewards or profits from other ecosystem services – habitats for biodiversity, water purification, and regulation of floods and of climate – are very limited.
Forests also have carbon sequestration and cooling capacities and play a role in providing renewable raw materials, food and medicines, according to the commission.
The guidelines aim to provide information and advice that help public and private entities and forest owners and managers develop and implement payment schemes for forest ecosystem services.
Forest management
Due to human intervention, structural complexity and species diversity of forests is unnaturally low in many parts of Europe. One third of forests consist of one species, while 50% of forests are limited to two or three species.
More than 60% of the biomass in European forests is exposed to risks such as fires, pest outbreaks or wind throws, impacting the capacity of forests for wood provision, carbon sequestration or other services.
Forests composed of several tree species, age classes and life-cycle stages are more resilient and adaptable to climate change than even-aged monocultures, and benefit forest functions, services and long-term forest productivity.
Closer-to-nature forestry is an ecosystem-based form of forest management that fosters more heterogeneous and diverse forests and rely less on human intervention.
These guidelines follow from the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and the EU Forest Strategy 2030 and have been developed in close collaboration with member states and relevant actors.
Ireland
In Europe, “considerable attention” has recently been focused on new methods to avoid rotation, clear-fell, and rotational (or regular) forest management (RFM), the commission said.
Alternatives to RFM are widely known as continuous cover forestry (CCF) or as close-to-nature forestry. In Ireland, the estimated percentage of CCF is currently 1%, according to EU figures.
However, indications are that pressure to provide alternatives to the clear-fell system in Ireland will increase in the future, due to initiatives such as the proposed Nature Restoration Law.
It is relatively straightforward to apply closer-to-nature principles to restore and improve biodiversity within Ireland’s native oak, yew and bog forests, the commission said.
For native and semi-natural forests, the measures and indicators that are effective in improving forest biodiversity, including higher deadwood volume, have been identified and are “readily qualifiable”.
However, this becomes increasingly challenging to achieve in existing production forests planted using non-native conifers on former agricultural land, as the elements of native forest biodiversity are “severely limited”.
A significant impediment to the widespread adoption of CCF in Ireland is wind and the fact that much of the forest estate is highly fragmented, and has been established on either peaty or wet mineral soils.
Any widespread adoption of closer-to-nature forestry should seek to focus on what can be achieved at restock stage, when structural change can be achieved while minimising financial and environmental risk, the commission said.