3 May 2021

Andreas Nikolaus Kleinschmit von Lengefeld, Director of International Operations in the French Institute of Technology FCBA, is involved in several European forest-based sector initiatives contributing to the objectives of the Green Deal: besides WoodCircus, he is also active in the context of the New European Bauhaus, notably via the Wood4Bauhaus alliance as well as in the task force of the Real-Time European Forest Monitoring System.

In an interview realised by Batirama, Dr. Kleinschmit von Lengefeld states that the forests shouldn’t be considered by their sole function of carbon sinks in the context of fighting climate change. The same idea was underlined by the EC President Ursula von der Leyen in September 2020 when the New European Bauhaus initiative was first launched: by introducing more wood to the construction (as well through new construction as through renovation), the building stock itself can be transformed as a carbon sink for a significant amount of time. From this perspective, the forest resources should be used actively but wisely to optimise the carbon sink effect created by trees and wood materials.

« We still delude ourselves into thinking that the forest is growing on its own – these are old observations that do not take into account the current situation », states Dr. Kleinschmit von Lengefeld. In order to coordinate the use of forest resources actively and efficiently, there is a need for a Europe-wide monitoring system. Such system would help anticipating and preventing damages caused by e.g. insects, forest fires or storms. In addition, the urban forest area should be increased in order to solve the problem around the anti-felling pressure and to achieve Europe’s climate neutrality target by 2050.

European forest has a huge potential for playing a leading role in fighting climate change, but it needs adaptive and cooperative costars in order to shine and achieve its best performance.

Read the entire article (in French) here : https://www.batirama.com/article/40293-bois-il-faut-planter-des-arbres-en-ville-pour-compenser-les-coupes-forestieres.html