IUFRO Spotlights

2020-09-22

Spotlight #81 - Developing evidence-based cases for planted forests

The IUFRO Task Force 'Resilient Planted Forests Serving Society and Bioeconomy' explores the implications for the sustainability of planted forests. It aims to add evidence-based support to discussions on the issue.


Planted forests, with about 7% of the world's forested area, produce more than 30% of global timber, serving society by providing raw material – wood, paper, resin, energy – for the bioeconomy. Plantations also are used for restoration and protection purposes – protecting soils from wind erosion, producing non-wood products and acting as an intermediate step for natural forest restoration.

However, plantation forests get a bad rap. That's the assessment of Christophe Orazio, who is coordinator of the IUFRO Task Force (TF) on Resilient Planted Forests and, after having led the Planted Forests Facility of the European Forest Institute (EFI-PFF) until its closure in 2019, is now director of the European Institute for Cultivated Forest (IEFC).

He says, "With the IUFRO TF and with the IEFC network, we can analyze the science, pull out relevant facts and make them available to stakeholder organizations and other interested groups and add evidence-based support to discussions on the issue. Dialogue is the key – for both sides – to improve producer practices and to explain to the broader society how much it benefits from planted forests."



Further reading:

Files:
spotlight81-task-force-planted-forests.pdf896 Ki