European biodiversity protection is impacting the supply of wood from the Continent’s forests to the tune of 68 million m³ a year, a new study has found.
The Impacts of Biodiversity and Landscape Diversity Protection on the Wood Supply in Europe report, published by the European Forest Institute, looked at the numerous felling restrictions in place across Europe and compared them to the varied demands from across the wood-based industries.
It reported that around 29 million ha of forest is covered by protective measures, with 49% of the volume in forest areas protected for biodiversity unavailable for felling and 40% in forests protected for landscape diversity.
This equates to 68 million m³, or the volume of roundwood produced by Germany and Italy combined in 2005.
Biomass was one of the main markets that the authors said would be impacted by the biological and landscape protection.
“Protection of biological and landscape diversity in forests clearly has an effect on potential supply of wood from European forests said authors Pieter Verkerk, Giuliana Zanchi and Marcus Lindner.
“Forest biomass has become increasingly important for bio-energy production. Though there is a potential to substantially increase wood removals across European countries, limitations on wood supply set by biodiversity and landscape protection may conflict with these developments in the long run.”
