Forestry

Abstract Forests are an important component of the global bioeconomy. They cover approximately 31% of the Earth's total land area, equivalent to 4.06 billion hectares, and are home to the majority of the world's terrestrial biodiversity. Forests also store nearly as much carbon as the atmosphere does. They serve numerous functions, including providing livelihoods for more than a billion people, conserving biodiversity, soil and water, and supplying wood for energy, construction and other uses. Additionally, they offer a range of bio-based resources and materials, such as food and feed. Forestry was the first sector to introduce the concept of sustainability, initially described by Carl von Carlowitz in 1713 in his published book ‘Silvicultura oeconomica’ (Schmidthüsen 2013). The sustainable use and management of forests is still a very important issue today. Forestry is a multi-functional bioeconomic system that supports the manufacture of products and energy sources which are bio-based, renewable and environmentally friendly. Thus, forests play an important role in securing a sustainable resource base for the current and future bioeconomy. However, forests face significant threats from climate change and anthropogenic impacts, leading to net annual loss of nearly 5 million hectares, primarily due to conversion to agricultural land.