The ONF: A Key Player in Sustainable Forest Management

« Ensuring that the forester renews the forest is the primary criterion for sustainable management in public forests. »

Particularly attentive to respecting forest environments, enhancing their value, and ensuring the sustainability of their management, we meticulously monitor the origin of our oak supplies. We strictly select our suppliers and systematically prioritize PEFC certificationPEFC.

The ONF (National Forestry Office) is an essential player in the management of French public forests and our main supplier of oak. Today, all state-owned forests are PEFC certified. Among these state forests, the prestigious oak forests of Bercé, Bertranges, Darney, Saint-Palais, and Tronçais are especially prized by stave-makers and coopers for the quality of their oak for staves

These state oak forests are the result of the meticulous work and expertise of several generations of foresters, whose continuity of management spans several centuries.

Sustainable Management: A Key to Fighting Climate Change

Forests are, after the oceans, one of the main carbon sinks. The French metropolitan forest captures approximately 87 million tonnes of CO₂ each year, representing 10 to 15% of the country’s total CO₂ emissions.

Sustainable management helps preserve or improve carbon sequestration in forests, a central element in the fight against climate change, through the rule of the 3S:

• Sequestration: Through the mechanism of photosynthesis, the forest captures CO₂ from the atmosphere.
• SStorage: Part of the carbon contained in the trees remains stored in wood products used
• Substitution: The use of wood in construction and energy avoids the use of materials reliant on fossil energy.

LSustainable forest management also guarantees their biological diversity, productivity, regeneration capacity, vitality, and ability to fulfill their economic, ecological, and societal functions, both now and in the future, without causing harm to other ecosystems.

Regarding forests managed by the ONF, Dominique de Villebonne, Deputy Director of Forests and Natural Risks, emphasizes:« No action is taken without being guided by the goal and the duty to renew and pass on a healthy and useful forest heritage to future generations. ».

This desire for renewal and transmission is also inherent to our values and commitments, particularly embodied through the reforestation program led by the Fonds Charlois pour l’Art et la Forêt since 2019.

To learn more about ONF’s actions, find ici its 2020 Activity Report

Visual © Christophe Deschanel