Connecting knowledge to action
On 24 June, the Integrate Network facilitated by the European Forest Institute organised the first Integrate Webinar. The webinar focused on the European Green Deal and its impacts on forest management and protection in Europe, with a special focus on the integration of biodiversity conservation into sustainable forest management – which is the main focus of the Network.
Leave a CommentAutoren: Marcus Lindner und Jürgen Bauhus
In dem frisch publizierten Nature Artikel unter Leitung von Guido Ceccherini „Abrupt increase in harvested forest area over Europe after 2015” (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2438-y) werden Waldverluste aus Satellitenbild-Auswertungen berechnet und dabei kommen die Autoren auf erstaunliche Werte von um fast 50% erhöhte Ernteflächen sowie um sogar 69% erhöhte Holzvolumenentnahmen in den Jahren 2016-2018 verglichen mit dem Zeitraum 2011-2015. Es wird diskutiert, dass eine auf verstärkte Bioökonomie-Entwicklung orientierte Waldpolitik zu diesem drastischen Anstieg in der Nutzungsintensität geführt hat und dadurch das Erreichen von Klimaschutzzielen in Frage gestellt wird.
Leave a CommentForests are among our planet’s most important human life-supporting ecosystems, and we have many expectations with regards to the ecosystem services they provide. But: How do major global challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss affect forests globally, and what can forest governance and management do? How can we deal with rising and changing demands for forest products and ecosystem services due to global population and economic growth, and urbanization?
In order to discuss these questions, the conference “Governing and managing forests for multiple ecosystem services” brought together policymakers, practitioners and academic researchers from different fields on 26-28 February in Bonn. During this event, EFI in collaboration with the documentary filmmaker Patrick Augenstein, interviewed Klaus J. Puettmann, Professor, Forests Ecosystems & Society, Oregon State University.
Leave a CommentForests are among our planet’s most important human life-supporting ecosystems, and we have many expectations with regards to the ecosystem services they provide. But: How do major global challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss affect forests globally, and what can forest governance and management do? How can we deal with rising and changing demands for forest products and ecosystem services due to global population and economic growth, and urbanization?
In order to discuss these questions, the conference “Governing and managing forests for multiple ecosystem services” brought together policymakers, practitioners and academic researchers from different fields on 26-28 February in Bonn. During this event, EFI in collaboration with the documentary filmmaker Patrick Augenstein, interviewed, Natalia Lukina, Forest Ecology and Productivity Centre, Russian Academy of Science.
Leave a CommentEin Gastbeitrag von Christian Ammer, Thomas Knoke und Michael Müller
Vor dem Hintergrund der Herausforderungen durch den Klimawandel müssen wir vielgestaltige und anpassungsfähige Wälder aufbauen. Wildeinflüsse können dieses Ziel gefährden. Deswegen hat der wissenschaftliche Beirat für Waldpolitik des Bundesministeriums für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft (BMEL) im Februar 2020 ein Eckpunktepapier zur Waldstrategie 2050 veröffentlicht. In diesem wird benannt, welche Regelungen bei der Reform des Bundesjagdgesetzes geändert werden müssten, um den drängenden Aufgaben nachkommen zu können. Wir stimmen der Analyse und den Empfehlungen des wissenschaftlichen Beirats aus waldwissenschaftlicher Sicht im Wesentlichen zu und fordern die Politik auf, die Empfehlungen ihres Beirats zu berücksichtigen.
Leave a CommentThe first EU Forest Strategy was adopted in 1998 to provide general guidelines for an EU forest policy designed to coordinate other EU forest-relevant policies. The implementation of the first strategy was done under the auspices of the EU Forest Action Plan, covering the period from 2007 to 2011. The Forest Action Plan was a tool that facilitated voluntary cooperation between EU Member States (no enforcement capabilities), with some coordinating actions being implemented by the European Commission.
The paper “Downloading Europe: A Regional Comparison in the Uptake of the EU Forest Action Plan”, published in the journal Sustainability, returns to the EU Forest Action Plan to provide further insight into how it translated into an EU Member State context. Most articles concerned with the analysis of forest-relevant policies in the EU focus on analyzing EU decision-making impacts on a national level, or vice versa, but not how Member States embrace EU strategies from a comparative perspective. This paper addresses this empirical gap and provides insight into whether Europeanization effects are comparable, irrespective of whether EU Member States are deciding upon and implementing a legally binding or non-legally binding EU policy instrument.
Decades of study have shown and quantified the impact of climate change on forests around the world. Changes in growth patterns, drought induced mortality, and species distribution shift have been observed in many forest ecosystems as well as the additional effects on water availability, increase numbers of pest and diseases, and the rise of detrimental effects of natural disasters (e.g. mega-fires). On the other hand, forests have also been acknowledged as “stabilizing forces for the climate”[1]. Thanks to their ecosystem services provision, shelters of flora and fauna biodiversity, and key role in the carbon cycle. Additionally, forests play a key role in sustaining sustainable livelihoods of many communities around the globe.
It becomes thus paramount to develop integrated tools, which can support the forestry sector in halting the loss and degradation of forests, as well as to reach a sustainable development for the sector. To this end, The European Forest Institute, El Cubo Verde, Vizzuality and Tecnalia are working together in a market study to assess the potential of forestry services based on Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) data available through its Climate Data Store (CDS). This initiative is organized within the framework of a Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) contract; C3S is one of the six services of the EU’s Copernicus Programme and is implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF), on behalf of the European Union.
Leave a CommentOn May 20th 2020, EFI held its first ThinkForest webinar: Science Insights to the European Green Deal and Forests. During this interactive event speakers and panelists took an in-depth look into the Green Deal, using a focus on the forest-based sector to discuss a range of topics including its objectives, weaknesses, and potential for further development. During the discussions, a key critique emerged from speakers and panelists: The Green Deal lacks clear consideration of a forest bioeconomy, which is crucial for addressing the climate, economy, and biodiversity simultaneously. The critique was met with an almost unanimous agreement by audience members, with a final poll revealing that 88% of participants thought the Green Deal should be updated to include this missing link.
Leave a Commentein Beitrag von Hans von der Goltz
Die neuerliche Trockenheit im dritten Jahr in Folge lässt die Borkenkäfer zu Milliarden erfolgreich ihre nächsten Opfer finden. Sie und andere Schadinsekten haben leichtes Spiel mit den durch den Wassermangel schon ums Überleben kämpfenden Bäumen. Es müssen alle vom Menschen beeinflussbaren Maßnahmen konsequent ergriffen werden, um die nächste Waldgeneration stabiler zu machen gegen die Herausforderungen des Klimawandels. Der Wald muss gemischter und strukturreicher werden.
Das verhindern auf der überwiegenden Waldfläche Deutschlands zu viele Rehe, Hirsche oder anderes Schalenwild. Das Bundesjagdgesetz muss rechtlich dafür sorgen, dass der erforderliche Waldumbau gelingt. Ziel muss es sein, dass Wald und Wild in einer Balance miteinander leben und überhöhte Schalenwildbestände nicht weiter ihre eigene Lebensgrundlage zerstören. In dem aktuellen Entwurf des Bundesjagdgesetzes kann man diese Absicht zwar ansatzweise erkennen, die klare Konsequenz fehlt jedoch vollständig. In Anbetracht der besorgniserregenden deutschlandweiten Waldsituation ist die Zeit der Freiwilligkeit, der hoffnungsvollen Unverbindlichkeit, des Kniefalls vor der Jägerlobby vorbei. Das Bundesjagdgesetz (BJagdG) muss aus gesamtgesellschaftlicher Verantwortung nun wirklich klare zielorientierte Regelungen zur Waldrettung treffen.
This is one of the questions the “Global Students Networking and Green Jobs in the forest sector” project is trying to investigate with their recently launched global survey among…
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