The Way Forward: Management and Policy Actions

AbstractAlong with the evidence and analyses expounded on in this book, this chapter provides conclusions and suggestions concerning policy implications. These are based on a perspective that calls attention to the need for a holistic approach to look at the nexus of forests, the bioeconomy and climate change. Moreover, it is emphasised that, given the different uses of forests and the scarcity of forest resources, it makes sense to try to find ways to maximise synergies and minimise trade-offs between the different usages of forests. The forest-based sector contributes to climate-change mitigation via three channels––forests are a carbon sink, forest-based products can substitute for fossil-based products, and these products can store carbon for up to centuries. However, achieving these mitigation potentials in the future depends on forests being made resilient to the changing climate. Therefore, mitigation and adapting forests to climate change are married, both needing to be advanced simultaneously. Globally and in the EU, around 80–90% of the CO2 emissions originate from the use of coal, oil and natural gas. Consequently, the core issue in the fight against climate change is the phasing out of fossil-based products. Reaching this goal will not be possible without substituting also forest-based bioproducts for the purposes we are using oil, coal and gas for today. In the EU, this implies paying more attention to the need to develop new innovations in the forest bioeconomy, improve the resource efficiency and circularity of the bioproducts already available, and monitor the environmental sustainability of the bioeconomy.