European forest resources at environmental and management crossroads

Bio : Jean-Daniel Bontemps is a silvologist, senior researcher and head of the Laboratory of Forest Inventory (LIF) of the IGN institute (national institute for forest and geographic information) in Nancy. 

His research has been dedicated to the analysis of European forest dynamic over the longer-term, on aspects of environment-driven changes in forest growth, on land-use changes and the associated evolution of forest resources, and on forest trend monitoring. He has contributed to higher education forest programs dedicated to forests’ environment and to resource information and analysis.

‪Jean-Daniel Bontemps - ‪Google Scholar

Description intervention : For decades, European forests have been accumulating wood resources within a growing area, as an outcome of the industrial and agricultural revolutions. With these resources being increasingly exposed to natural hazards, their increased valuation may prove useful in both risk management and bioeconomic valuation perspective. It however remains conditioned by countries’ forest policies and the extent to which the forest sector is strategic. Also, decreased forest growth calls attention on their renewability, partly hidden in the current European forest extension. With issues on biodiversity and C sink preservation, forest protection is thus turning a major goal in Europe, conflicting forest resource valuation, and questioning multifunctional approaches. Such complexity calls for reliable and publicly available forest information supporting trust in forest policies. It also suggests that the sparing of forest land may form a tangible option in the future.