Policy issues for wood and forests in 2007
2007 has been marked by an increasing realization of the need to invest in a more sustainable energy future, and the multiple ways in which forests and forest products can contribute to climate change mitigation. Forest products store carbon for long periods – European forests sequester nearly 140 million tons of carbon a year – and energy from renewable wood sources can be a substitute for non-renewable energies. Forests are the largest pool of terrestrial carbon, with 53 billion tons in Europe and the Russian Federation, and were as such a focus of discussion at the UNFCCC 13th Conference of the Parties, held in Bali in December 2007. The fourth assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released in November 2007 acknowledges the use of renewable energy sources as an adaptation option, such as the use of forestry products for bioenergy to replace fossil fuels, leading to a reduced dependence on single sources of energy.
In the context of these policy developments, wood for energy has become increasingly important. Ambitious renewable energy targets have been adopted by European Union member States, requiring a significant change in consumption and production patterns. By 2020, 20 per cent of primary energy consumption should be derived from renewable sources, 13 per cent more than at present. Currently, biomass constitutes – with 66 per cent – the largest source of renewable energy in the EU, and wood is the major source of biomass, with 80 per cent. The EU Biomass Action Plan suggests doubling the production of bioenergy by 2010. The forest sector might play a major role in supplying the resources needed for meeting the bioenergy targets while, at the same time, sustaining the raw material supply for the wood processing industries, although uncertainty surrounds the issue of the sustainable levels of wood supply.
Achievements in 2007
Activities of the UNECE/FAO integrated programme of work on timber and forestry have in 2007 focused on exploring the implications of the changed wood energy situation for policymakers and others, and on improving the monitoring and analysis of sustainable forest management in all its aspects.
In January 2007, during the UNECE/FAO workshop Mobilizing Wood Resources, policymakers and other stakeholders from the forests and energy community assessed how Europe’s forests could satisfy the increasing demand for raw material and energy while maintaining sustainable forest management. Conclusions and recommendations of the workshop contributed to shaping discussions in the context of the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE) and were reflected in the resolution on “Forests, wood and energy” adopted at the fifth MCPFE Ministerial Conference in Warsaw in November 2007.
At the January workshop, UNECE/FAO was mandated to lead the efforts to obtain more reliable information on the realistic potential for and consequences of increased wood mobilization in this field. The results of the Joint UNECE/FAO/IEA/EU wood energy enquiry, presented to the Joint UNECE/FAO Working Party on Forest Economics and Statistics in March 2007, revealed that harvested wood volumes, in particular for energy generation, are significantly higher than reported by official international statistics. This assessment of future wood requirements shows that significant amounts of wood, likely to outstrip domestic demand, would be required to meet the renewable energy targets set by policymakers.
Emerging challenges for the forest and energy sectors were discussed at the UNECE/FAO Policy Forum on “Bioenergy Policies and Targets: Impacts on the Forest and Other Sectors,” organized in the context of the sixty-fifth session of the Timber Commission in October 2007, which decided to continue work on assessing the wood supply potential of Europe’s forests.
The regular activities under the programme also paid special attention to wood energy aspects: the annual market discussions in the context of the Timber Committee session, organized for the first time together with the International Softwood Conference, a major private sector forum, reviewed new market opportunities created by the wood-based energy policies sector alongside the regular in depth review of recent trends and the short term outlook. The programme’s annual flagship publication, the Forest Products Annual Market Review also assesses the way in which wood energy policies and markets are reshaping the forest sector.
A number of capacity-building workshops were held in South-East Europe, to help countries develop adequate policies and institutions for the forest sector, with a focus this year on marketing and on wood energy.
Analysis and discussions of relevant policy developments have stressed the cross-sectoral dimension. The Timber Committee is increasingly cooperating with other parts of the UNECE, such as the Committee on Sustainable Energy and the Water Convention Secretariat. “Forests and Water” is the focus of another resolution adopted at the Warsaw MCPFE Ministerial, through which Signatory States commit themselves to the sustainable management of forests in relation to water, to coordinating policies on forests and water, and to facilitating the development and implementation of measures, which may include economic tools such as payments for ecosystem services.
The Section made a major contribution to the Fifth Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe: it provided support to the preparation of the resolutions, implemented about a third of the items on the MCPFE programme of work and prepared, jointly with the Liaison Unit Warsaw of MCPFE, the report The State of Forests in Europe 2007, the most comprehensive, up-to-date assessment of Europe’s forests, based on criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management. The report concludes that overall, European forests are sustainably managed; and provides national and regional information for policymakers on the situation and trends in all aspects of sustainable forest management. It represents a qualitative improvement in data quality and coverage compared to earlier studies of a similar nature. Among other improvements, it contains information on the qualitative indicators i.e. on policies, institutions and instruments adopted by European countries, An enquiry on private forest ownership in Europe provides new data on the distribution of forest ownership in a number of European countries and allows for socio-economic observations and an understanding of the changes which have occurred during the past 15 years.
Challenges for 2008
For the Timber Committee and its partners, 2008 will be the year of strategic decisions and improved communication. A process of widespread consultation and focused decision-making will decide the broad lines of the activities of the Committee and its partner, the European Forestry Commission of FAO. A special, joint session of the two bodies, 28-30 April 2008, will decide on the integrated programme for the next 5 years, to 2013. Naturally all stakeholders and partner organizations will be involved in the process.
In October, the Timber Committee will be one of the sponsors of the Pan European Forest Week, to be held from 20-24 October in Brussels and Rome, which will focus on emerging issues, raising the profile of the forest sector and showing how regional organizations are working together to promote sustainable forest management in Europe. In parallel, countries are being invited to organize national events with similar objectives.
The high price of energy and the ambitious targets for renewable energy are having significant impacts on forest products markets and raise difficult questions about how much wood will be available on a sustainable basis to meet the targets as well as the needs of other users. There is an urgent need for better information for policymakers, as well as for a meeting place between the forest sector community and the energy community. The Timber Committee with its partners will pursue its work to analyse the future impact of these developments and in estimating the potential wood supply in Europe. UNECE with its multisectoral structure and convening power is ideally placed to address these complex issues. In this case, the Timber Committee is working with the Committee on Sustainable Energy as well as other partners in this area.
The Timber Committee will continue its activities to monitor and analyse forest products markets (including for energy), by collecting data, publishing the Forest Products Annual Market Review, the fastest and most comprehensive available review of market trends at the regional level, and organizing the Timber Committee market discussions, which provide an authoritative review of the market conditions in the forthcoming year, for the use of governments and market actors.
During 2008, work will start on the Global Forest Resource Assessment 2010 (FRA 2010), led by FAO Rome. UNECE/FAO Geneva will continue to work closely with Rome in collecting and validating this information, for countries in the region. This enquiry is the keystone of all international data about forests, worldwide, so it is vital that the best possible data, fully checked and comparable, are collected for all countries in the world.
The programme to improve our coverage of forest sector policies and institutions will be developed: there is now a good information base, collected for the Warsaw ministerial conference: this will be validated, organized and made available, alongside new information being collected for FRA 2010.
During 2008, the programme of capacity building in the countries of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia will be continued, as resources allow, mostly in the fields of marketing and policies and institutions, building on partnerships developed in recent years.
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