The Canopée forests vivants association was created in 2018 and holds approval from the Ministry of Ecological Transition, for environmental protection.
It is in global opposition to cooperatives and public forestry policies. Bruno Doucet, head of Canopée’s French and European forestry campaigns, explains this.
What is your view on the state of French forests?
Bruno Doucet: “Climate change is on the way. We don’t know what will happen in the years to come.
There are two types of answers to provide. A first by taking big risks: razing, replacing forests in difficulty to replace new species which we assume would be more adapted. Once you’ve taken this direction, you can’t go back. This has already been done in the East, with spruce monocultures and it was a failure. They make the forest less resilient.
The other strategy is to take it slowly. We must observe the resilience and adaptation capacities of the trees and then those at the stand level. We can also help by accelerating this natural adaptation, by making small gaps. »
You declared in July that the government is not adapting the forest to climate change, but to the timber industry. In what?
“There is a strategy of removing forests in difficulty to put in their place other trees that would be more suitable. The most planted tree as part of the recovery plan is the Douglas fir.
It is not particularly suitable, needs a lot of water but is suitable for industrial uses. It is a conifer which grows quickly, straight, which can make good framework.
Public action led by forestry cooperatives
Another species is widely planted in the South-West: maritime pine. It grows quickly where it is warm and has good resistance to cold. On the other hand, it is sensitive to fires.
The recovery plan was ambivalent. On the one hand, he said he aimed to adapt to climate change and on the other, he wanted to support the forestry industry and cooperatives. If this were really a plan to adapt to climate change, we would go much more slowly. »
What do you criticize about the industry?
“It does not take the measure of the change that is expected in practices. European texts are forcing the French forest to rethink itself. One says that the carbon sink must increase while it is decreasing. Another one from which forests we can take energy wood. A vice is tightening but the sector is in denial, it prefers to educate to explain the cuts and to say that the people who criticize are not credible. »
Is public action up to the task?
“We have no real forestry policy in France. In the finance bill, there is no longer any funding for the various actions in the forest. Everything is based on the renewal plan led by the forestry cooperatives, to whom we leave control. Regional silvicultural management schemes (SRGS) are a symptom of this.
In the West, the forest is largely owned by private owners. Some eastern departments are exceptions.
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The law lays down major principles for the forest. These are broken down into the SRGS, which are the basis for private forest owners to carry out operations or not on their plots. But these plans do not contain an obligation to take biodiversity into account in forest management plans. That of Île-de-France indicates that it is not possible to leave more than 10% of the forest to evolve freely. This figure is not justified, it is a political choice. »
The reforestation plan and the new low-carbon strategy are not going in the right direction?
“Climate change is complicated and cannot be solved with simple steps. In France, the number of small and medium-sized sawmills is plummeting, particularly for hardwoods. This is linked to the fact that we have increasingly large softwood sawmills, which use machines that come from Northern Europe, calibrated for softwoods.
As a result, forest owners will choose to adapt their forests to these sawmills. They will more easily tend to plant conifers to have outlets. The government does not answer this question.
On the other hand, he communicates on the planting of a billion trees in ten years. A forestry policy is not just about planting lots of trees and cutting them down. The carbon sink of the French forest has been halved in the last ten years.
This is linked to three things: trees are growing slower because of climate change; there are more fires, more diseases; wood harvest increases. If we want the French forest to be able to store as much carbon as possible, we must stop increasing the harvest. This does not necessarily mean harvesting less, but better.
Instead today, the plans, particularly in the national low carbon strategy, are to increase wood harvests, which is contrary to the European regulation on carbon capture by land: by 2030 France will have to capture 34 million tonnes of carbon per year in its forests. There, we would arrive at around 19 million tonnes. And it’s the same thing in the other countries of the European Union. »
What do you expect at the legislative level?
“Two bills have been tabled by deputies from nine parties. They aim to regulate clear felling and reduce work that is harmful to forest soils, while promoting mixed silviculture with continuous cover, which is part of the solution for thinking about tomorrow’s forest policy.
This would certainly make it possible to regulate forest management, to ensure that wood is harvested better. There is also a large part of the carbon that is in the soil. This does not seem to be a priority at the Ministry of Agriculture. Part of the solution can come from the European Union, another at the very local level with mayors and associations. There are plenty of levers. »
a NR series
Rethinking the forests of France, a series in four episodes
