What is sustainable forest management
Lung of the planet, the forest is home to many animals and plants. Did you know that a handful of forest land contains more living organisms than there are people on Earth? ? Faced with increasing deforestation, sustainable forest management is a necessity. The NGO PEFC has been working since 1999 to preserve the forests of France and around the world.
What is sustainable forest management?
Elaborated at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, sustainable forest management is inspired by the concept of development durable , widespread by the Brundtland report. The Rio Declaration on Forests brings together international wishes and recommendations for sustainable forest management.
This concept of sustainable forest management sets out a vision for our forests that can provide people with the goods and services that they wait without it impacting their future. We can hope through these conditions, to bequeath to future generations an environment that they can also enjoy.
In Europe, sustainable forest management must respect five criteria defined at the Helsinki conference (1993):
- Conservation and improvement of forest resources (maintaining production capacities)
- Maintaining the health of forests, their good sanitary condition
- Satisfaction with the production function (timber and non-timber products)
- Respect for biodiversity in forest ecosystems
- Soil and water protection
Sustainable forest management is a global ambition, although it is not applied by all countries. In France, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry ensures that it is properly applied.
Why should forests be managed sustainably?
A handful of forest land contains more living organisms than there are people on Earth. This gives an idea of the biodiversity that we have to protect.
Globally, forests cover more than 1/4 of the Earth's land surface.
Two-thirds of recorded terrestrial animal and plant species live in forests.
On Earth, 300 million people live in forests and 1.8 billion depend on them directly for their livelihood. A forest where several species live together is more resistant to diseases and climatic hazards.
A veritable carbon sink, forests store 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Diversity is also favorable to living organisms, under the cover of trees and in the ground. To protect or develop this biodiversity , it is important to take care of the soil by ensuring that it is supplied with organic material.
Forest biodiversity under threat!
Despite their crucial role, forests continue to lose ground : while in 1990 they covered approximately 4.128 billion hectares in 2015 they no longer cover than 3.999 billion hectares or 30.6% of the land. Some 129 million hectares of forest - an area almost equivalent in size to South Africa - have been lost since 1990.
According to satellite data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, an area of Amazon rainforest the size of a football field is now being cleared every minutes . Deforestation can happen quickly, for example when a fire sweeps across the landscape (as was the case in Brazil) or when the forest is clear-cut to make way for an oil palm plantation.
While deforestation appears to be declining in some countries, it remains at worrying levels in others - including Brazil and Indonesia - and a serious threat to the most precious forests of our planet remains according to the WWF.
In concrete terms, what actions have been taken to achieve this?
The general idea is to conserve the existing capital of our forests by respecting two main rules:
- Do not cut more than the natural growth of forests;
- Replace adult generations of trees with younger generations.
It requires a whole long-term planning system to know what to take, where and when.
We can take the example of France: Each of the 17,000 French public forests has a forest management plan. a period of 15 to 20 years. It establishes the guidelines, forest by forest, of the actions to be taken to comply with these rules over time.
More concretely, if you are not sure of recreating an adult forest behind the one you want to cut,
In France, we plant very little. We prefer natural regeneration which consists of accompanying natural sowing with seeds that have fallen from trees on the ground. When we have a carpet of young shoots on the ground that seems dense enough, we cut the trees above to start a new cycle. In some cases, we are forced to resort to artificial planting: we first cut down all the large trees before installing young plants raised in nurseries.
Quark is committed to the development of sustainable forests
At Quark we are committed to sustainable solutions. Our strategy of local and sustainable production is at the heart of the creation of our Pegboards. At Quark, our development strategy contributes to the creation of an environmentally responsible and inclusive society.
We only source wood from sustainably managed forests. Our production line is not PEFC certified due to the cost of obtaining the certificate. Nevertheless, we attribute the greatest importance to the origin of our raw materials. We are therefore studying all the possibilities at our disposal to integrate circular economy materials into our production line.
As you can imagine, sustainability is a priority at Quark! We are committed to territorial actors . Quark contributes to operational solutions to accelerate the implementation of the ecological transition at the scale of its territory and
For the companies that are committed, to integrate all the dimensions of sustainable production in their jobs and daily practices. Let's bet that this type of business will become the norm of tomorrow.
A good bet… That of choosing responsible growth for your company.
At Quark, we are committed to a model of sustainable creation. We feel the world is moving and we want to support it in a viable model for generations to come.
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