Louise Sallé 07h18, May 19, 2022
French forest cover has never been so large: 17 million hectares, or a third of French territory.
A key asset for France, the fourth-largest wood-producing country.
However, the future and global decline of trees in the territory is a threat to be taken seriously.
The forest is doing well today, but it suffers from increasingly regular crises, due to climate change.
In fact, we will only see the effects in several years, as Jean-Michel Servant explains.
He chairs France Forêt Bois, which brings together players in the sector.
“The trees are under stress”
"French forests are very threatened by climate change. Like all European forests, this is reflected in attacks linked to climate change such as summer droughts. In addition to this water deficit, there are threats of a health type, that is to say that the trees are in a situation of stress and are more vulnerable to attacks of the type of insects or fungi", he explains at the microphone of Europe 1, partner of the magazine
Le Pèlerin
.
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Risk of decline of current species
Foresters therefore expect to see timber production decline in the coming years.
The solution: plant different types of trees, different species, for greater resistance to crises.
Complicated work, comments François Morneau, technical advisor for the national forest inventory at the IGN: "We have a lot of uncertainty about the ability of a set of species to hold, with real difficulty that we have to to have in mind. Because a tree, obviously, lives a long time and it is necessary that at the same time we manage to install a species which can grow under the current conditions and that these species are able to produce wood, to make trees and forests for 50, 100 or 150 years".
The species that will be introduced, more exotic, more Mediterranean, will not necessarily all be suitable... But it is better, for the foresters, to test them, rather than replanting as before, with a probable risk of decline of the current species.