Forest restoration must navigate trade-offs between environmental and wood production goals
Forest restoration schemes should prioritize restoring native forests for greatest climate and environmental benefits, but these benefits incur a trade-off with wood production in comparison with tree plantations.
Diverse native forests store more above-ground carbon, provide more water to nearby streams, and better support biodiversity and prevent soil erosion than simple tree plantations, a major new study published today in the journal Science has found—but plantations have an advantage in wood production.
The study looked at the relative benefits of restoring native forests versus establishing a range of simple tree plantations in terms of biodiversity conservation and four key functions of value to humans—or 'ecosystem services'—provided by a forest: carbon storage, soil erosion control, water provisioning, and wood production.
Forest restoration is gathering pace worldwide, in part as a way to tackle climate change: deforestation is a major source of carbon emissions, and forest restoration can be a 'nature-based climate solution' to counter global warming. In many cases, forest restoration is also conducted for the water provisioning and flood regulation functions of forests, and as a means to prevent soil erosion and produce wood products.
"Establishing a tree plantation is useful for producing wood—but not so good for restoring biodiversity. This is a huge missed opportunity for conservation," said Dr. Fangyuan Hua, a researcher previously based in the University of Cambridge's Department of Zoology, and first author of the paper. Hua now works at Peking University's Institute of Ecology in China.
She added: "When the goal of a forest restoration scheme includes wood production, then there's a trade-off to be made between environmental and production outcomes."
Forest restoration schemes aimed at providing ecosystem services tend to involve tree plantations of just one or a small number of tree species, rather than the restoration of diverse native forests, based on an implicit assumption that tree plantations are just as effective in delivering these services. But the authors say there is no robust scientific evidence for this.
The current synthesis involved an international, cross-disciplinary team of researchers from seven countries, and it is based on an unprecedentedly large database consisting of almost 26,000 records from 264 studies conducted in 53 countries.
"This is the first time that the relative performance of different forest restoration approaches in delivering forests' most salient services has been assessed simultaneously. We can now begin to understand the synergies and trade-offs across different restoration goals, and so help inform decision-making," said Professor Andrew Balmford in the University of Cambridge's Department of Zoology, senior author of the paper.
The study found that as with biodiversity, all three environment-oriented ecosystem services—aboveground carbon storage, soil erosion control, and water provisioning—are delivered better by native forests than by tree plantations. Soil erosion control in particular has the most to lose from plantation-style forest restoration, and the shortfall of plantations in water provisioning is more serious in drier climates—precisely where water is scarcer.
"When restoration goals are about environmental benefits, even if not specifically for the sake of biodiversity conservation, we should aim to restore native forests—and biodiversity will gain as a co-benefit," said Hua.
However, for wood production, the limited evidence available showed that tree plantations can outperform native forests, highlighting a critical trade-off.
Tree plantations worldwide typically use fast-growing species like pines, firs, and Eucalyptus. These trees tend to grow tall and straight, and in actively managed plantations their growth is often enhanced by fertilizers and weeding to prevent other plants competing for nutrition and light.
In contrast, native forests contain a mix of different tree, shrub, and herbaceous species, and they tend not to be managed for growth. This provides a more suitable habitat with diverse food and other resources for a range of plants and animals to thrive, but also means that wood production may be less efficient.
"The trade-off between the environmental and production benefits a forest can provide has not been discussed much before. Restoration probably cannot meet all goals at once," said Professor David Edwards at the University of Sheffield's School of Biosciences and another senior author of the study.
In addition to a need to weigh competing goals, this finding also means that plantations might indirectly provide environmental benefits, by allowing other, higher-biodiversity forests to be 'spared' from being cut down for wood production.
"Plantations need to be integrated into a coherent land-use plan, so that their better performance at producing wood gets translated into improved conservation of environmentally valuable forests elsewhere," Balmford added.
The study also found that for many old or abandoned plantations across the world that seem no longer used for wood production, their environmental performance falls short of native forests. Given that these plantations seem to be common, there are probably significant environmental benefits to be gained from restoring them to native forests.
The United Nations (UN) have declared 2021-2030 the 'UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration'. Along with many other climate-related initiatives, this promotes the scaling-up of restoration efforts on a global scale to breathe new life into our degraded ecosystems, including the restoration of forests on millions of hectares of deforested and degraded land across the world. Such restoration efforts have the potential to generate immense environmental and social benefits—but only if they are guided by a robust understanding of their consequences for environmental and other outcomes.
More information: Fangyuan Hua et al, The ecosystem service and biodiversity contributions and trade-offs of contrasting forest restoration approaches, Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.abl4649. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abl4649
Citation: Forest restoration must navigate trade-offs between environmental and wood production goals (2022, March 17) retrieved 21 March 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-03-forest-trade-offs-environmental-wood-production.html
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02
Improving timber supply chains will help unlock sustainable production and consumption this International Day of Forests
It is critical for climate change mitigation and a vital habitat breaming with biodiversity, of approximately 10,000 species of tropical plants, of which 30 percent are unique to the region. Timber trade in the Congo Basin is an essential source of income, integral to national economies, and provides a livelihood to local communities.
Ensuring the sustainable production and consumption of timber in the Congo Basin, therefore, is paramount. Yet a surging demand for tropical wood, primarily from Asia but also from Europe and America, exacerbated by corruption, resource mismanagement, and ineffective regulation, is making it all too easy for criminals to harvest and trade in threatened timber illegally. It is estimated that forestry crimes including corporate crimes and illegal logging account for US51 – 152 billion annually worldwide1.
Since 2009, the volumes of Central African timber exports to China have increased by 60%. The country is now the top export destination for the Congo Basin timber. Beyond the international demand for tropical timber, there are additional challenges of domestic markets within the countries in the Congo Basin. For example, artisanal logging to support the local demand for house construction and furniture is not regulated and this use of timber contributes to the pressures of international trade.
What does this mean for the Congo Basin? This ever-increasing demand has put the Congo Basin rainforest and its vibrant species under threat from unsustainable and illegal logging. It is possible that without tackling the already prevailing unsustainable harvest and trade, the increasing demand for tropical timber could eventually lead to the disappearance of species. To stand a chance in countering this threat, first, we need to better understand the three pillars of the timber supply chain: the source countries, the transit of timber and who is buying it.
Understanding how timber is sourced and forests are managed is a critical first step, starting from working with local community networks, including community forestry operators, who manage the forests and benefit from legal exports. As a result of these conversations, it is clear that sustainable forest management should be involved in decision-making not only on behalf of the forests’ health but also the well-being of people who depend on them. Local communities play a critical role in being the guardian of resources they owned by customary law and have some rights to forest areas put out to tender. TRAFFIC works with local partners and community networks in Cameroon and the Republic of the Congo to assist community forestry operators to operate and export legally, increasing income while managing forests sustainably. Simultaneously, we work with the private sector to leverage the improved practices in harvesting and trade legality, sustainability, and traceability.
Governments should continue to work with local communities, civil society, NGOs and the private sector to improve business practices and increase transparency and accountability for the type of wood they use.
Illegal harvest and trade of tropical timber involves the breach of national and/or international laws and regulations. Illegal logging may be linked to organised crime and various forms of corruption. It may lead to the loss of government revenues, unfair business competition, unsustainable forest management, habitat degradation and loss, species populations’ declines and extinction, and the displacement of people.
Learning how timber moves from source countries to end consumers is vital, including understanding the challenges customs agencies face in identifying illegal timber from legal. Our research in Cameroon and the Republic of Congo recorded challenges including the limited knowledge of forestry laws and regulations, and the limited availability of specialists in timber species identification among customs officials.
While setting the groundwork to ensure robust national legality frameworks are in place is important, enabling enforcement agencies to verify timber legality and track revenue from legitimate forest sources is a next step that must be completed. Traceability systems and tools are tangible instruments for this. TRAFFIC piloted a timber tracker tool in Tanzania, which was such a success that today it is fully embedded in the forestry department’s everyday operations. It supported law enforcement’s effective and efficient controls and contributed to reducing opportunities for corruption. Based on this experience, we’re planning to pilot and localise the tool in the Congo Basin countries as well.
Improving the scrutiny of financial flows within the timber sector is another critical step. Criminals often exploit weaknesses in the financial arena such as cash in hand, or other mechanisms related to the local transfer of large amounts of money. This can also hide money laundering activities. This is a major challenge for global financial institutions, but there are vital steps forward. Earlier this month, TRAFFIC launched a toolkit with a focus on the trade between Africa and Asia with our partners at WWF, UK Serious and Organised Crime Network in collaboration with Themis. The toolkit is helping financial institutions to address and report suspicious transactions connected to illegal wildlife trade.
Finally, the last pillar in any supply chain is consumption, where we focus on organisations at the market end of timber products supply chains. We’ve worked to develop a sustainability code of conduct with the China Timber & Wood Product Distribution Association (CTWPDA) which covers the legal sourcing of timber for the private sector, codes of practice for Rosewood, and developed public procurement policies that support a review of guidelines of China Environmental Labelling Certification on wood and forest product.
Meanwhile our team is supporting law enforcement in Viet Nam to understand timber legality and implement the Forestry Law, in close collaboration with countries supplying vast amounts of the timber, including those in the Congo Basin. This is proving successful and the Vietnamese government is now exploring options with countries such as Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo on the sustainable management and trade of tropical timbers from this incredibly rich and biodiverse area.
What is clear from our work so far to leverage legality along the timber supply chain between the Congo Basin and China is that sustainable timber trade, from sourcing through to consumption, cannot survive without a comprehensive approach. Governments must commit to funding these measures with adequate resources and assistance made available to developing countries.
We know from a report released by UNESCO, WRI, IUCN in October 2021 that human activities such as the degradation of the forests through agricultural conversion, unsustainable harvesting, and illegal logging are driving factors of deforestation (the second leading cause of carbon emissions). So while The Global Forest Finance Pledge promises $12 billion over the next five years to protect forests, peatlands, and other critical carbon stores, with at least $1.5 billion going towards efforts in the Congo Basin, this international pledge must include a focus on curbing illegal logging and improving the sustainability of timber supply chains – all the way from source, through transit and to end consumer.
Conscious that the world population will keep increasing, it is anticipated that the demand and use of timber and its products will follow the same trends; but to ‘inspire for the future’ as this year’s International Day of Forests theme reminds us, we must continue to the momentum to ensure sustainable production and consumption of timber for the sake of the people and biodiversity that rely on the forests, but also the planet.
TRAFFIC is working in the Congo Basin on the sustainable procurement of legal timber to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
03
Russian Sanctions Problematic for Croatian Wood Floor Manufacturers
March the 19th, 2022 - Croatian wood floor manufacturers have become an unlikely victim in the harsh but necessary sanctions most of the world has imposed on Russia following its unjustified invasion of neighbouring Ukraine last month.
As Poslovni Dnevnik/Jadranka Dozan writes, the proverbial earthquakes triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine across global markets - primarily through supply chain disruptions, and then the prices of energy, food, various industrial raw materials and goods - aren't, of course, bypass the wood sector. Croatian wood floor manufacturers are far from immune.
In addition to an already quite complicated business environment, some new complications related to certain sectors are now beginning to arise almost on a daily basis. This is particularly the case in the wood and paper industries, when it comes to fuel chips, plywood logs and the like. A decision was prepared as a counter-sanction aimed at countries on Russia's hostile list, from the US to the European Union (EU), and is scheduled for the end of the year.
For some European companies, but also Croatian industrial companies and retailers, the related delivery problems are even greater. All of these difficulties only work to further emphasise the long-standing belief that the raw material potential Croatia boasts should be better used.
This means investing in capacities and technology that would result, among other things, in the production of greater added value. It's worth really highlighting the fact that the Croatian wood sector is one of the few industries where the country actually has all of the proper raw materials for the job.
Over recent days, Bjelin, owned by Darko Pervan and which started building a wooden floor factory in Ogulin last year, announced that the group had decided to increase and improve investments in existing facilities and speed up the completion of a new Croatian factory. The company says this should make a significant contribution to replacing part of the wooden floor production capacity that is now being lost in connection with the Russian war against Ukraine.
However, for most of the companies within the HUP-Association of the Wood and Paper Industry, the problems they're facing are currently in a stronger focus.
"Economic sanctions imposed by the EU, and thus Croatia in relation to economic relations with the Russian Federation, as well as the announced decision of Russia to ban the export of birch wood products, are causing very serious problems for Croatian wood floor producers," said Ivica Pasalic, adding that the EU's decisions should point to very high penalties for violating sanctions in any way, including through third countries.
Russia produces 75 percent of the world's birch plywood production and their manufacturers have been the dominant suppliers to a number of our two-layer parquet manufacturers. As Pasalic pointed out, practically all of them have had very serious problems when it comes to production and are in danger of being stopped entirely. Finding alternative solutions, on the other hand, is neither quick nor easy.
The Association also intends to try to arrive to a solution through social dialogue with the competent ministry, because, as he said, a large number of workers work in these factories, and they're threatened with losing their jobs, and companies are shutting down production.
Stjepan Vojinic from the management board of the Bjelin Group pointed out that the situation with the shortage of raw materials and semi-finished products caused by the war in Ukraine is serious for all European producers of various types of wooden floors, but also the wider furniture industry.
The most affected, he said, are those countries that don't have the primary raw materials at hand (mainly oak) in the flooring industry, where Ukraine, Russia and Belarus participated with approximately 30 percent of those total needs. In addition, the issue of the general dependence of the European furniture industry on HDF and plywood, primarily from Russia, is coming to the fore.
As usual, crises can be seen as opportunities. "Nobody likes to have to develop and grow at the expense of other people's troubles, but this is a situation that we didn't want and we couldn't have had any influence over it in any way, so we shouldn't be ashamed of that and we should try to use it," said Vojinic.
The Bjelin Group, he says, is working hard to accelerate its planned investments that will lead to growth in production and implementation of new technologies.
“How successful we'll be depends only on us, because we have to start our production of new Woodur wood floor coverings, which we now have in Sweden, and we'll have that here in Croatia as soon as possible, too. The new plan is to have the final finishing by the end of this year, and the complete production by the end of the next year,'' announced Vojinic.
It's worth noting that Bjelin gets all its oak raw materials from Croatia, but Russia and Ukraine are also large exporters of oak and other wood materials for the flooring industry, and have significant parquet production, which is now directly affected by the war and the accompanying sanctions.
According to company estimates, 25 percent of oak planks produced for European markets come from Russia and Ukraine. Due to all of this, it has been calculated that many construction projects are now in danger of significant delays due to the cancellations of deliveries.
This, of course, doesn' only apply to floor coverings. Other players in the wider wood sector, from wood processors to retailers, are also facing complex supply chain problems owing to the current dire situation between Russia and Ukraine. Some will say that until recently, they "flirted" with foreign partners about prices, and now it's a much bigger challenge to even try to ensure delivery.
Mladen Jambrovic, the first man of Iverpan, says that quarterly or multi-month detailed planning no longer works, now they are much shorter due to disruptions and the general level of unpredictability of deliveries. Demand, he says, is not falling.
The construction sector is quite active, and after the preparations for the tourist season were delayed last year due to the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, this year they started much earlier, which ultimately affects the demand for wood products related to interiors.
Emphasising the complexity of the overall business conditions, he noted that in the production of plywood, for example, goods today are ordered for delivery in two, three or four months. In addition, it is an energy-intensive activity, with gas being the main energy source.
For wood centres and/or furniture manufacturers, there are also problems related to the situation with some ancillary goods, products and markets, from steel (fittings, hinges) to glue, fillers or cardboard; these are all segments of considerable importance to both Ukraine and Russia. All in all, good demand today is accompanied by many "buts", and this will continue to have a very strong effect on Croatian wood floor manufacturers.
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