Can you imagine your life without oxygen, your house without furniture, or your winter holiday without a Christmas tree? There are so many more things that couldn’t be possible without a forest. On top of that, the forest sector plays a significant role in climate change mitigation, especially through the capture of CO2 in forests and wood products, as well as through material and energy substitution. The policies the government designed in the last couple of years are the ones that will enable every country to achieve the climate change targets that have been set but also to protect Europe’s forests.
By Miruna Haican (Edited by Marta Silvia Viganò)
The European Week of Regions and Cities started with the workshop Our Forest, our Future, where four European regions - North Portugal, Silesia (Poland), North Karelia (Finland) and Castilla y León (Spain) - presented innovative ideas for shaping a more sustainable forest management.
One of the innovative strategies is the Climate-Smart Forestry – a targeted approach to increase the climate benefits from forests and the forest sector, in a way that creates synergy with other needs related to forests. This strategy was built on three important pillars: reduction and removal of greenhouse gas emissions, adaptation of forest management to build resilient forests, and active forest management aiming to sustainably increase productivity and enhance the benefits that forests can provide. The approach was implemented in Spain, the Czech Republic and the Republic of Ireland, and it provided insights into the carbon balance of the forest ecosystems, harvested wood products material, and energy substitution effects.
Another innovative project implemented in the Northwestern Spanish region of Castilla y León is Life CO2 Int Bio Project. The objective is to capture and purify the CO2 emitted by a biomass energy production plant to obtain a renewably sourced green CO2 that is neutral in emissions. This project creates a new value chain and product in the commercial CO2 industry, by creating a green and sustainable origin for commercial CO2 gas, under a new business approach. It also aims to demonstrate and certify the benefits, effectiveness, and CO2 reduction of an innovative integrated business approach aimed at reducing emissions from 3 different industrial sectors - commercial CO2, biomass power plants, and greenhouse vegetable production.
In Portugal, the projects funded by the European Structural and Investment Funds were pivotal for the management and conservation of the Peneda-Geres National Park, as well as for the management of Geres Xures Biosphere. The Peneda-Geres National Park has a rich historical and cultural heritage, but also a remarkable botanical and faunistic diversity. So, the main goals of the projects in this area entailed preserving and protecting the environment and natural heritage in the Peneda-Geres National Park, developing the tourism sector, and creating more jobs for the unemployed population living in the PNPG area.
Meanwhile, along the Polish-Slovak border, the territorial cooperation is enhancing the protection and revitalization of Beskid forests, in order to improve their social, ecological, and anti-flood functions. The project REW-BE-LAS was implemented under the Cross-border Cooperation Programmes of the Poland-Slovak Republic in the 2007-2013 programming period. An important part of this project was restoring the depleted forest – and already 11 million new trees have been planted across 1900 hectares. The main goal was to improve the condition of this natural environment and the quality of life for the people living in the region. Stretching across 32 km, the cross-border Beskid Green Path has new resting stops for walkers and visitors, and educational information boards that explain the relevance of this natural landscape. This project changed an entire region, and now the next generations will be able to see a completely different forest along the Polish-Slovak border.
Implemented across different areas of Europe, these four innovative strategies are a necessary first step in the right direction, where climate-smart forestry can help adapt to the effects of climate change, and contribute to climate change mitigation by reducing or removing greenhouse gas emissions.
