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The condition of Europe’s forests has been deteriorating, as the European Union itself concluded in a 2021 study. The strategy for 2021-2030, based on the European Green Deal, aims to improve the quantity and quality of Europe’s forests and make them more resilient to the “uncertainty of climate change”. Carbon neutrality, which Brussels aims to achieve by 2050, is a key element in this process. So is the ambitious 55% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030. As Europe heads straight for GHG reduction, it’s fair to ask how we got here.
Several factors explain the emissions balance in forest ecosystems. In the case of monocultures, studies show that they generally lack resilience to extreme climate events. Single-species plantations and fast-growing trees are more likely to be severely damaged by fire, disease and storms – disturbances that cause forests to release large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
While it is well known that decomposing or burning trees release carbon dioxide (CO2), attention should also be paid to forest soils, which often store more carbon than the trees that grow on them. Storms and forestry practices such as clear-cutting and the use of heavy machinery can disrupt the amount of carbon in the soil.
In this investigation, we present some of the most serious European cases and link forest management to emissions, to explain why some forests went from being carbon sinks – which remove CO2 from the atmosphere – to carbon emitters. In Portugal, eucalyptus, an essential raw material for the paper pulp industry, has long been at the centre of intense public debate. In France and Germany, the wild pines of Les Landes and the firs of the Harz are also the subject of discussion.
There is little doubt that monoculture forestry has a negative impact on the environment. Many disagree that these impacts are significant, namely the economic actors who need the forest for raw materials. In this debate, Europe’s environmental interests are on one side of the scale and its economic interests on the other – can a real balance between them ever be achieved?
