Europe’s Green Policies Contributing To Large Scale Deforestation In USA

Large areas of Southern Forests are being cut to make wood pellets bound for Europe. This loss of green cover has raised a red flag among green crusaders. Europe, for their climate change targets, is promoting the use of wood pellets to reduce the greenhouse gases. The American forests are paying the price.

Europe is trying to reduce the use of fossil fuels and carbon dioxide emissions. Their coal using power plants are switching to wood pellets, which are sourced from American forests. Europe does not have much of green cover and many restrictions are in place for lumber cutting. This has forced the continent to reach out to the American South and they are devouring wood from the U.S.

American communities in the south which were hit hard by mill closures are making money. Paul Burby, owner of a firm called Carolina East Forest Products, told The Wall Street Journal, “The logging industry around here was dead a few years ago, now that Europe is using all these pellets, we can barely keep up."

U.S. International Trade Administration has projected that the wood pellet exports would go up by 15 percent by the year 2020. These bullish forecasts have resulted in expansion of pellet factories and large scale logging. Jacksonville.com reports the ports in Savannah, Brunswick and other areas of Georgia have been handling over million metric tonnes of wood pellets each year.

But as demand for wood pellets grows from Europe and Korea, USA is faced with the disappearing wood cover and wildlife. Ben Larson, forestry and bio-energy program manager for the National Wildlife Federation, said to The Washington Post, that as wood pellets are sourced from trees in pine plantations, natural forests are disappearing. The landscapes across the South are changing with more Pine Plantations instead of real forests harbouring a diverse wild life.

Europe is in the race to reduce their carbon emissions and has zeroed in on wood for energy as it is a renewable energy source. The credits are awarded to countries that generate energy through renewable energy.

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