Ref. Ares(2022)5805250 - 18/08/2022
European Forest Institute (EFI) | Yliopistokatu 6 B | 80100 Joensuu | Finland
Tel. +358 10 773 4308 | www.efi.int
From:
Sent: Monday, 10 May 2021 11.18
To: CHAPUIS Laure <xxxxx.xxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx>
Subject: RE: Causes of declining forest biodiversity
Dear Laure Chapuis,
Referring to the email exchange below, I would cordially like to inquire whether any of the times
below would be suitable for you and other members of your cabinet to have a meeting with EFI
Director Marc Palahí and Assistant Director Lauri Hetemäki:
Monday 24 May at 12.30-13.30 Central European Summer Time (CEST)
Friday 28 May at 13.00-14.00 CEST
Monday 31 May between 13.00-15.00 CEST
Thursday 3 June between 13.00-15.00 CEST
We use mainly Microsoft Teams for virtual meetings and I’m happy to send a Teams invitation
once we have identified the meeting time. Please, could I ask you to inform me the email
addresses of other meeting participants, if you wish me to include them to the invitation.
Thank you in advance for your reply.
With kind regards,
European Forest Institute (EFI) | Yliopistokatu 6 B | 80100 Joensuu | Finland
Tel. +358 10 773 4308 | www.efi.int
From:
Sent: Friday, 7 May 2021 14.50
To: CHAPUIS Laure <xxxxx.xxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx>
Cc:
Subject: RE: Causes of declining forest biodiversity
Thank you Laure!
Here my presentation. I also add a very visual ppt from our Assistant Director Lauri on current
use of wood resources, with some interesting data. My comment was that EU Forests represent
4% of the World Forests but the EU Forest based sector is responsible for 40% of the global
forest products export value. Lauri calculated that Figure. Any reference Lauri?
Yes, lets have a meeting in end of May or June. Lauri should also participate.
Best regards,
Marc
Marc Palahí
Director, European Forest Institute (EFI)
Coordinator, SMI Circular Bioeconomy Alliance (CBA)
Yliopistokatu 6 B | 80100 Joensuu | Finland
Tel. +358 10 773 4342 | www.efi.int | Twitter: @Marcpalahi
From: CHAPUIS Laure <xxxxx.xxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx>
Sent: Friday, 7 May 2021 13.56
To: Marc Palahi <xxxx.xxxxxx@xxx.xxx>
Subject: RE: Causes of declining forest biodiversity
Dear Marc,
Thank you for the follow up and for forwarding me your email. I will certainly circulate it in the
Cabinet. Together with a few colleagues in the Cabinets we would be very interested by some of
the numbers you have mentioned yesterday and in particular on the share between the EU
Forest usage in Europe and the economic outcome (4/40% ratio). Do you think you could also
share your presentation made yesterday?
I will also like to check possible dates when we could organize a meeting, possibly in the next 2
weeks. I am pretty sure that at least my Head of Cabinet would like to have a meeting.
Let me know if this would suit.
Best,
Laure
From: Marc Palahi <xxxx.xxxxxx@xxx.xxx>
Sent: Friday, May 7, 2021 11:36 AM
To: CHAPUIS Laure (CAB-SIMSON) <xxxxx.xxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx>
Subject: FW: Causes of declining forest biodiversity
Dear Laure,
It was nice to meet you! I just want to forward you the message I sent today to your colleague
Suvi (in International Partnerships) as it might be relevant for you too. See my reference below
to Biodiversity and Bioenergy synergies…
Happy to follow up.
Regards
Marc
Marc Palahí
Director, European Forest Institute (EFI)
Coordinator, SMI Circular Bioeconomy Alliance (CBA)
Yliopistokatu 6 B | 80100 Joensuu | Finland
Tel. +358 10 773 4342 | www.efi.int | Twitter: @Marcpalahi
From: Marc Palahi
Sent: Friday, 7 May 2021 9.04
To: 'LEINONEN Suvi' <xxxx.xxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx>
Subject: RE: Causes of declining forest biodiversity
Dear Suvi,
Kiitos! It was very interesting for me to participate!.
Let me reply to your question and I am also sending you references. The tropical context
is very different and we could discuss it separately, because there the issue is connected
to deforestation of intact forests (very valuable in terms of biodiversity).
Why is biodiversity in European Forests declining?
There is not a single reason but a range of factors that affect different types of forest
dwelling species in different ways.
Eutrophication is certainly an important reason. The continuing high deposition of
nitrogen into our forests leads to a loss of species, in particular of lichens and
understorey plants, which are weak competitors compared to those plants that benefit
in their growth from the increased nitrogen supply. With the loss of these species, other
species such as insect that specifically depend on these plants also lose their habitat.
See following publication on the topic: Eichenberg, D., Bowler, D. E., Bonn, A.,
Bruelheide, H., Grescho, V., Harter, D., ... & Jansen, F. (2021). Widespread decline in
Central European plant diversity across six decades.
Global Change Biology,
27(5), 1097-
1110.
External influences such as long distance drift of pesticides from agriculture. A much
cited recent study showed that there is an alarming recent arthropod decline in forests
similar in magnitude to that observed in agriculture. This study showed that arthropod
decline in forests was not related to management intensity but was influenced by the
management in the surrounding landscape. It is not entirely clear, what is causing this
decline, but one possible explanation could be the wide-spread use of agrochemicals. In
the forests that were investigated in this study, no pesticides are being used. See the
following publication: Seibold S, Gossner MM, Simons NK, Blüthgen N, Müller J, Ambarli
D, Ammer C, Bauhus J, Fischer M, Habel JC, Linsenmair KE, Nauss T, Penone C, Prati D,
Schall P, Schulze ED, Vogt J, Wöllauer S, Weisser WW (2019) Arthropod decline in
grasslands and forests is associated with drivers at landscape level.
Nature 574, 671-
674, doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1684-3.
Loss of old forests which harbour certain unique structures with their associated
species. This is a process that is unfortunately ongoing in some eastern European
countries and some parts of Fennoscandia. However, in the majority of Europe, forests
are actually getting older and thus offer opportunities to (actively) restore old-growth
habitats. See also: Sabatini FM, Keeton WS, Lindner M, Svoboda M, Verkerk PJ, Bauhus J,
Bruelheide H, Burrascano S, Debaive N, Duarte I, Garbarino M, Grigoriadis N, Lombardi
F, Mikoláš M, Meyer P, Motta R, Mozgeris G, Nunes L, Ódor P, Panayotov M, Ruete A,
Simovski B, Stillhard J, Svensson J, Szwagrzyk J, Vandekerkhove K, Volosyanchuk R, Vrska
T, Zlatanov T, Kuemmerle T (2020) Protection gaps and restoration opportunities for
primary forests in Europe. Diversity and Distributions
26,1646–1662, DOI:
Error!
Hyperlink reference not valid. Loss of historical forest use systems such as coppice (
here there are synergies with
Bioenergy!! Because coppice is mainly use for energy, so there can also be positive
synergies between bioenergy and biodiversity), coppice with standard and silvo-pastoral
systems. Many forest dwelling species that are today rare and threatened actually
depend on more open and heterogeneous forest conditions, which were historically
maintained through management systems at the interface between agriculture and
forestry.
The Montado in Portugal and Dehesa in Spain (agro-silvo-pastoral systems)
are thehaving the highest biodiversity value in Europe and they are man-made
systems. These transitional systems have been large abandoned and replaced, either by
more intensive and homogenous agricultural production systems or by closed forests.
Therefore, more open forests are today often the focus of nature protection. See
Bengtsson et al. 2000.
We also see that the
increasing growing stocks in European forests do not lead to an
increase in biodiversity. While some species benefit from older forests with more
biomass, oter species that require more open and light conditions are clearly
disadvantaged.
This shows that strict protection of forests is not helpful as a universal
solution. See Sabatini et al. 2018.
Replacement of native forests through secondary (conifer) forests has certainly led in
the past to much habitat loss. However, this in most parts no longer occurring and we
actually see an opposite trend in most parts of Europe, where restoration and
conversion of secondary conifer forests leads to more natural habitats.
Other threats to biodiversity are of course
climate change and invasive species, again to
drivers that can only be tackled through restoration, adaptation and active
management.
I hope this helps!
I also hope we can meet soon your Commissioner and discuss collaboration towards
Africa. I am personally coordinating an initiative of the Prince of Wales, the Circular
Bioeconomy Alliance: https://efi.int/cba with a central focus in Africa: we provide advice
to several Ministers and we are launching forest restoration projects with holistic value
chain approach…
Best regards
Marc
Marc Palahí
Director, European Forest Institute (EFI)
Coordinator, SMI Circular Bioeconomy Alliance (CBA)
Yliopistokatu 6 B | 80100 Joensuu | Finland
Tel. +358 10 773 4342 | www.efi.int | Twitter: @Marcpalahi
From:
Sent: Thursday, 6 May 2021 15.42
To: Marc Palahi <xxxx.xxxxxx@xxx.xxx>
Subject: Causes of declining forest biodiversity
Dear Mr Palahi,
Many thanks for your interesting and enlightening comments and replies at the meeting that
just ended. I wanted to make one more question but it was not possible due to the lack of time,
and that is why I decided to send my question to you by email.
Forest biodiversity in Europe is declining. For the policy makers, also in view of the upcoming
forest strategy, it is important to understand why this is happening. It seems that a lot of blame
has been put on forestry and forest sector, while you said (and please correct me if I am
mistaken) that we should address problems with fossil based industries. I have read that
nitrogen deposition (from fossil industry and agriculture) could be one of the reasons for
declining forest biodiversity. Could you elaborate on that? Also, a very simple question: what is
causing biodiversity loss in European forests? To what extent the biodiversity loss is caused by
clear cuts? It would be most welcome if you could elaborate the drivers of biodiversity loss also
in the context of tropical forests.
I too see that the public debate on forests is getting somewhat ideological and heated and that
is why I want to stress that the above are very genuine and sincere questions from my end (I am
not a scientist) so that I can advise my Commissioner to the best of my ability.
Many thanks in advance.
Best regards,
Policy assistant
European Commission
Cabinet of Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen
International Partnerships
