La necesaria interpretación extensiva del concepto normativo de aprovechamiento forestal a la vista de los avances técnicos en las metodologías de cuantificación del carbono secuestrado por los montes

Abstract

The current climate crisis requires active actions by all international actors and economic sectors to achieve a reduction in atmospheric CO2 levels.

The low productivity of forests, particularly in the European Mediterranean area, together with the progressive abandonment of the rural world, contributes to the need to seek positive administrative alternatives in the management of forests that favor the conservation and improvement of forest masses and that are capable of improving our results in the fulfillment of international obligations to reduce greenhouse gases.

Forests provide an important service in carbon sequestration and storage. However, this service is of an immaterial nature and does not produce returns for forest owners. Landowners have no incentive to increase carbon storage in their plots, as it is generally considered a mere environmental externality.

There are disparate assessments of the nature of carbon sequestration carried out by forests. A technical and legal analysis is made of the concepts of ecosystem service, environmental externality and forest harvesting, and a proposal is made to broaden the concept of forest harvesting so that, in the light of scientific advances and under certain circumstances, carbon sequestration and storage can be considered as harvesting.