Increasing pressures to use forest biomass: A conservation viewpoint

Abstract

Various policy, economic, and social drivers are pushing us towards utilizing our forests for a changing mix of products that include returning to them for biomass as a fuel source. While this is a use with some limited merit, it must be considered prudently and with the ecological limits of our forests clearly identified and understood before substantially investing our public resources towards this purpose. There is enough scientific evidence to suggest that caution and restraint is needed so that we can identify key ecological impacts and define sites on which increased fibre harvesting is not appropriate before biomass policies are put in place. Information is needed on monitoring methods, and effects on site productivity, biodiversity, and carbon cycling; full economic analyses and life-cycle carbon accounting is needed. Perverse incentives need to be avoided. A precautionary path is therefore required that makes ecosystem sustainability a priority, that builds confidence in application of current practices, that includes environmental assessment and pilot programs, and that operates under a clear regulatory regime that integrates bioenergy removals within clear forest management plans. The pervasive impacts of climate change are converging with an economic opportunity to set the groundwork for our next forest economy, and biomass utilization policy will play a key role in how well we choose to manage our forest resources in this unique context. To proceed with maximization of use as the dominant management priority is to ignore the critical obligation that managers must appreciate: that our forest resources have limits to their exploitation from which, once exceeded, they do not easily recover. On the evidence available, this is a time for government policy makers to take the precautionary path in allocating our forest biomass, and to ensure that we are comfortably living on the interest from our forest ecosystems but not tapping into its capital. Key words: biomass, sustainability, policy, conservation, full-tree harvesting, environmental impacts, intensity, carbon, utilization pressures