Unece-Fao meeting results

The Unece Timber Committee held its 65th session from 8-11 October 2007 (www.unece.org).
During this session, for the first time, joint market discussions were held with the International Softwood Conference, focussing on the themes of bio-energy and softwood markets, based on the Forest Products Annual Market Review. The market statement, as approved by delegates, highlights important developments and forecasts for 2007-08 for the Unece region.
A policy forum held jointly with the Fao European Forestry Commission discussed “Opportunities and Impacts of Bioenergy Policies and Targets on the Forest and Other Sectors ” and the outcome is summarized here.

As shown in the study, major amounts of wood, which are likely to outstrip domestic supply, are required to meet the renewable energy targets as they are interpreted now. It is a major challenge for all stakeholders, in particular the forest and the energy sector, to define a realistic role for wood energy in meeting renewable energy targets.

However more wood than at present can be mobilized on a sustainable level. Therefore, supportive laws, regulations and policies are needed, as well as information and motivation of forest owners, particularly small forest owners, to mobilise wood supply. Forest owners themselves see a potential to increase the harvest substantially.

The role of wood in energy supply has to be defined according to potential wood supply, from domestic sources and imports; however, impacts on other wood users, namely the existing wood-based industries, also have to be considered when setting policy targets.

When determining the sustainable wood supply, not only the annual growth of wood in the forests is of importance; wood sources from outside the forest, like hedgerows and urban trees, post-consumer recovered wood or wood industry residues also have to be taken into account.

It is important to understand that overall energy efficiency is vital to achieve renewable energy targets, but also techniques based on renewable sources other than wood need to be developed to achieve the targets, such as energy generation from agricultural biomass, wind, solar, geothermal or hydro.

At the end of the day, decisions on future land use will be crucial: determining the future land for supply of wood for the wood processing and energy industry, land use for nature conservation, and, even more important, agricultural land use for food supply or energy crops.