Maroc - TIMBERBIZ.COM.AU - A La Une - 10/Jan 00:17

Decreasing logging in EU affects logging in other countries

The EU’s climate and biodiversity policies have a very large impact on European forestry, according to the preliminary results of a research project by Maarit Kallio, professor of forest economics and forest policy. Source: Timberbiz According to preliminary results, achieving the LULUCF Regulation targets and the EU Biodiversity Strategy would require a reduction of 132 million cubic metres in felling in EU countries and Norway compared with the so-called baseline development in 2035. A quarter of the reduction would occur in the Nordic countries, the rest in the rest of the EU. In addition, sawmill and panel industry production in particular would decrease in the EU. Globally, logging would not decrease much, as 2/3 of the reduction in logging in the EU would be offset by increased logging elsewhere in the world. The largest logging outflow would be to North America (38%), South America (25%), and China and the rest of Asia (19%). Professor Kallio from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences presented the preliminary results of the research project “Leakage effects of EU biodiversity and climate policies on the global forest sector and its sustainability” at a seminar held in December 2024. The research project was funded by the Finnish Forest Foundation. “With the logging boom, the EU is losing the economic benefits of the forest sector to the rest of the world. At the same time, the risk of biodiversity and climate challenges spilling over outside the EU increases,” stated Professor Kallio at the seminar. Decreasing logging in the EU would result in a significant leakage of logging to countries where the risks of biodiversity loss are greater than in the EU. For example, these countries have higher species richness, lower coverage of protected areas and less controlled use of forests. “Assessing the overall impacts of policy measures is important and Kallio now brings a global perspective. Significant logging leakages from the EU to the rest of the world show the ineffectiveness of EU policy measures,” said Martta Fredrikson, CEO of the Finnish Forest Foundation. In the research project, Kallio used scenario analysis to compare the development of the forest sector with and without EU policy measures. The project compared the effects of the EU Biodiversity Strategy and the LULUCF Regulation up to 2035. Driven by global demand, the EU and Norway’s logging volume is expected to increase from the more than 500 mil-lion cubic meters (FAO) in recent years to approximately 580 million cubic meters in 2035, according to the so-called baseline. The results on the biodiversity strategy are new and the article Potential impacts of the EU’s biodiversity strategy on the EU and global forest sector and biodiversity is under peer review. Kallio’s preliminary results on the impacts of the LULUCF Regulation are an update to previously published studies on the subject (2018 and 2022) and a corresponding article on these will be peer reviewed early this year.