La forêt française, l’agroforesterie et la filière bois : quel potentiel d’atténuation climatique à moyen et long terme ?

The IPCC (2014) sees dynamic management of forests and of the forest-based industries along with afforestation and changes in the demand for wood as fundamental tools for climate change mitigation. What are and what could be the contribution of these methods and factors to mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on the scale of France? This note describes how this contribution can be measured. It provides current (2012) figures and offers forecasts to the 2030 horizon and in the long term, according to two scenarios: the “business as usual” and the dynamic scenario. Switching to the dynamic scenario that aims at being both ambitious and realistic, would make for an additional 50 million-tonne reduction in CO2 emissions (compared to current levels) yearly in the long term, i.e., a 38% increase in the mitigating effect of forests and of forest-based industries and a tripling of the substitution effect, the only durable long term effect on climate.