BACKGROUND PAPER: LOGGING AND CARBON STORAGE IN ESTONIA AND WHAT CAN BE DONE
Estonian Fund for Nature, May 2022
This background paper is designed for Estonian and EU policy makers, primarily members of the European Parliament, and officials in Estonia and abroad who take part in the negotiations of the "Fit for 55" package. It is also intended to help stakeholders, such as journalists, businesses, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to get better acquainted with the topic and form their opinions. The background paper is published both in Estonian and English.
Introduction
Forests and forest management are mentioned a lot in the context of tackling the climate crisis. For the first time, Estonia has the legal obligation to store an agreed amount of carbon in landscapes. Climate promises must become actions and measurable results. As the movement of carbon between ecosystems, the atmosphere, and the technosphere is relatively complicated, it is hard to measure and related climate policy is often difficult to understand. Below, we explain Estonia’s options and choices in handling our forests within the framework of climate policy.
Estonian forests have become a source of emissions
Based on the data published by the Ministry of the Environment in March 2022, the figures for Estonia over the last thirty years are as follows:
Background paper in Estonian is avaliable here.
Compiling of the background paper is supported by European Climate Foundation.
