Forest and wood are popular. We already saw during the corona period that forests are highly appreciated by the Dutch. And wood is also increasingly valued more highly as a raw material than fossil and mineral raw materials. Yet there is also a lot of discussion about the meaning of forests and the harvesting of wood. One thinks that forests are nature and states that we should stay away from trees. The other sees that forests buffer carbon and sees wood as the sustainable alternative to concrete, steel and fossil raw materials. Both insights are understandable as far as I am concerned.
Forest history
The Netherlands was once a forested country. Due to excessive logging (for shipbuilding) and land reclamation, the forest area declined significantly. By 1750, the Netherlands had only a meager 50.000 hectares of forest left. Consequently, the planting of new forests began in the 19th century. Large-scale forest planting in the second half of the 19th century took place to protect humans from nature. Drifting sands had to be contained, and uncultivated wastelands acquired economic significance. We now possess approximately 365.000 hectares of forest (about 9% of the land surface). This places us at the bottom of the European rankings. Timber production has long been an important source of income for forest owners. Later, when more forest came into public hands, other functions also became more important to society. In the post-war years, people developed a need for space for relaxation and recreation. And since the 70s, nature has become more important. The legal framework for forests was regulated by the Forest Act of 1961. In 2017, the Forest Act was incorporated into the Nature Act (Nature Conservation Act). Within the framework of the Nature Act, timber production and harvesting can take place as usual. Because forest policy has become part of the Nature Act, the perception of timber harvesting appears to have changed. Partly as a result, timber harvesting is less appreciated or disapproved of by some.
Functions of forest
Forests fulfill multiple functions and are more important for more than just nature and biodiversity. Forests purify the air, mitigate climate change and noise, produce oxygen, filter and buffer water, sequester carbon, and provide wood for, for example, furniture and construction. Moreover, in the forest you can unwind, find inspiration, enjoy nature, and play sports. This makes forests multifunctional by definition. In the context of this argument, I would like to focus on the function of forests as carbon sequestrators. This is good for the climate, and it can be improved even further by using the wood we can harvest from them as a raw material to replace fossil and mineral resources. The production and processing of fossil and mineral resources releases a great deal of CO2 into the atmosphere. By replacing these materials with wood, not only is carbon sequestered in the product, but an even greater effect is the prevention of CO2 emissions during the production of fossil and mineral resources. From a sustainability perspective, wood is therefore a hopeful alternative and good for the climate.
Nature or wood plantation
Although most people appreciate forests, there is also debate about what we should or should not be allowed to do with them. Some consider timber harvesting undesirable because it is supposedly bad for the forest, while others believe timber is important and that trees simply have to be felled for it. In our polarized society, I observe a hardening of positions, and this applies to this subject as well. The LNV Forest Vision states that a slight increase in timber harvesting is being pursued. In practice, however, less and less timber is being harvested in the Netherlands. Provinces are responsible for the implementation of nature policy. And despite the national policy outlined in the Forest Vision, forests are increasingly being labeled as nature forests, in which timber harvesting is not automatically permitted. This is at odds with the policy. Moreover, the perception is emerging that timber must be sourced from genuine production forests. The point is that we do not have these genuine production forests in the Netherlands. Forestry in the Netherlands is not a form of agriculture, but a management model aimed at allowing various functions to come into their own side by side in an optimized manner. In the sector, we call these multifunctional forests. And although I certainly do not find this a sexy name, I am a strong advocate for this type of forest. For although timber is produced and harvested in this type of forest, these forests, partly due to the implementation of measures, also provide more structure than forests where no management is carried out. As a result, these forests also offer space for the development of biodiversity.
In the short term, a study will be started into differences between forests with and without timber harvesting, specifically looking at biodiversity. I am curious about the results of this research. I dare to predict that natural forest and multifunctional forest each have specific values when it comes to biodiversity, that they are probably complementary to each other and that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The advantage of multifunctional forests is that their climate impact is much greater than natural forests. This is due to the substitution effect due to the use of wood. I can therefore hope that provinces will take the climate into account when making choices for one or another forest type. That provinces will therefore not opt for natural forests on a large scale without timber harvesting and forest plantations, but opt for nature and climate. So for multifunctional forest in which sustainable timber harvesting is permitted.
About the author
Henk Wanningen
Forestry Commission
Henk Wanningen has a forest and nature management background and works at Staatsbosbeheer on high-quality use of green raw materials from the green environment. He works closely with land management organizations and with companies that realize innovations and development, aiming to ensure that the use of these bio-raw materials through sustainable applications leads to a high climate impact. This includes timber construction, insulation materials, bio-based materials, green chemistry and renewable energy.
