Forests, Carbon Sinks and Wood with Bioeconomics as a Backdrop

Blanca Rodríguez-Chaves Mimbrero

Faculty of Law, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain

Abstract: In compliance with COP 21, the European Union is tasked with creating a decarbonized Europe by the mid-21st century. In this context, and as a strategy in the fight against climate change through mitigating damage and adapting, we have recently seen the term “bioeconomics” emerge in Law. This new term is being used as a vehicle to seek out a new economic model based on balancing the planet’s thresholds with covering Humanity’s needs. Bioeconomics implies a revolution: substituting fossil fuels and renewable energies, whilst at the same time encouraging the improvement of our natural capital. In this context, forests have an important part to play both as carbon sinks and as a source of renewable energies. How the methods and monitoring of mitigation activities are defined, and the way in which forest strategies to adapt forests and apply systems so that the management itself can adapt to the new conditions will be decisive for forests and forestry to have a pivotal role in the fight against climate change. In this article, we look at both European regulations and the internal legislation of the Spanish state in force and in preparation to regulate forests both as carbon sinks and as a key element in bioeconomics as the main green infrastructure.

Key words: climate change, COP 21, sustainable forest management, LULUCF regulation, FLEGT regulation and EUTR regulation