Journal
FOREST POLICY AND ECONOMICS
Volume 153, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2023.102996
Keywords
Forest governance; Woody biomass use; Recurring governance problems; Renewable energy directive; Natura 2000 network; Nature Restoration Law
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Forest ecosystems play a crucial role in climate and biodiversity protection. However, the increasing demand for woody biomass for energy production undermines effective forest conservation. This article examines the governance effects of EU Renewable Energy Directive and nature conservation legislation, and suggests the need for additional market-based instruments to reduce pressures on forest ecosystems.
Forests ecosystems have an indispensable value for global climate and biodiversity protection. Alongside manifold other functions, forests ecosystems are important suppliers of raw materials in a post-fossil world. However, without effective legal restrictions, the increasing demand for woody biomass for energy production counteracts effective forest conservation in Europe and third countries. Against this background, this article assesses the governance effects of the EU Renewable Energy Directive and the EU nature conservation legislation, particularly the directives forming the Natura 2000 network, and the proposed Nature Restoration Law. To this end, a qualitative governance analysis is applied. In a first step the sustainability criteria of the Renewable Energy Directive are assessed regarding intra- and extraterritorial effects and their ability to avoid typical governance problems. Thereafter, to investigate achievable steering effects, EU nature conservation legislation is analysed. The legal analysis shows that typical governance problems reoccur, rendering the effectivity of the assessed command-and-control regulations too low to protect forest ecosystems in line with international climate and biodiversity targets. Only the proposed Nature Restoration Law might unfold a larger legal steering effect in the future, if a number of shortcomings are addressed. However, as typical governance problems can never be fully avoided, it remains necessary to reduce pressures on forest ecosystems by additional market-based instruments These instruments should be applied on European policy level to induce sufficiency in the private transport sector and in relation to consumption patterns for energy and food.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available