Climate mitigation and intensified forest management in Norway: To what extent are surface waters safeguarded?
- PDF / 390,088 Bytes
- 11 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 27 Downloads / 158 Views
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF A GREEN BIO-ECONOMY
Climate mitigation and intensified forest management in Norway: To what extent are surface waters safeguarded? Frode Sundnes , Marianne Karlsson, Froukje Maria Platjouw, Nicholas Clarke, Øyvind Kaste, Salar Valinia
Received: 20 December 2019 / Revised: 2 June 2020 / Accepted: 14 June 2020
Abstract While the role of forestry in mitigating climate change is increasingly subject to political commitment, other areas, such as water protection, may be at risk. In this study, we ask whether surface waters are sufficiently safeguarded in relation to the 2015 launch of a series of measures to intensify forest management for mitigation of climate change in Norway. First, we assess how impacts on water are accounted for in existing regulations for sustainable forestry. Secondly, we provide an overview of the impacts of forestry on water quality relevant to three support schemes: afforestation on new areas, increased stocking density in existing forests, and forest fertilisation. Lastly, we assess the uncertainties that exist with regard to surface waters in the implementation of these measures. We find that the safeguards in place are adequate to protect water resources at the point of initiation, but there is a large degree of uncertainty as to the long-term effect of these mitigation measures. Keywords Afforestation Climate mitigation Fertilisation Forest management Intensification Surface waters
INTRODUCTION Based on the 2012 white paper the Norwegian Climate Policy, the Norwegian parliament came to an agreement (‘‘Klimaforliket’’) that states Norway’s ambitions for meeting international obligations on emission reductions (KLD 2012). While Norway through its 2007 ‘‘climate and forest initiative’’ has shown strong commitment to fight deforestation in tropical forests, the new agreement of 2012 emphasised the forest’s carbon sink capacity in Norway. One of the stated goals was to maintain or increase the forest
carbon stock through active, sustainable forest policies, with particular reference to new actions to intensify the forest industry. This reflected a new direction of Norwegian climate policy where two-thirds of emission cuts are now to be made nationally. These national commitments are reiterated in the 2015 white paper New emission commitment for Norway for 2030—towards joint fulfilment with the EU (KLD 2015). The new actions introduced here included afforestation on new areas, increased stocking density, and fertilisation of forests. The details of these measures are presented below. We view these climate mitigation measures as forms of intensification of the forestry sector as they are put in place with the aim of increasing the biomass produced per unit forest area. Although the measures represent a change towards intensification, it should be noted that the Norwegian forest industry is a far cry from being labelled as an intensive industry. A large proportion of forest areas in Norway are not actively managed due to topographical conditions and lack of
Data Loading...
