Wood You Believe It?

Estonia is a small Baltic country. Some 50% of its land is covered in forest (amounting to 2m hectares). Much of this forest is a Natura 2000 protected zone and home to an impressive variety of bird life. It appears, however, that its protections don't fully work (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/14/carbon-neutrality-is-a-fairy-tale-how-the-race-for-renewables-is-burning-europes-forests). Although the Natura protections were put in place by the EU, logging is governed by local legislation. This 'clear cutting' can be carried out, so long as bird breeding seasons and damage to bog systems are avoided. It has been independently found that Estonia's forests lost 15,000 hectares between 2001 and 2019. So why are trees being removed when a) they are an essential component of a protected area and b) we need these plants to absorb the carbon dioxide linked to climate change? Much of the wood is simply converted into pellets. These are sold as 'biomass' and burned in many of Europe's former coal-fired power stations. These 'old' power stations will not have attached Carbon Capture and Storage technology. Biomass has no clear advantage over coal (it's a bit less dirty but it still liberates carbon dioxide). The system would only work (in terms of carbon storage), if trees were being planted faster, than they were being cut for conversion into wood pellets. Even if this were the case, disturbance of bird populations by clear cutting and replanting would inevitably occur. There is evidence that several avian species are in decline in this area. This appears to be yet another example of pretending that environmental destruction (in this case of a forest) is done for the best possible reasons. The wood pellets are described as 'bio-rewables'and people feel good about their replacing coal. There are profits to be made by the companies that market them.