Significant increase in natural disturbance impacts on European forests since 1950

Over the last decades, the natural disturbance is increasingly putting pressure on European forests. Shifts in disturbance regimes may compromise forest functioning and the continuous provisioning of ecosystem services to society, including their climate change mitigation potential. Although forests are central to many European policies, we lack the long-term empirical data needed for thoroughly understanding disturbance dynamics, modeling them, and developing adaptive management strategies. Here, we present a unique database of >170,000 records of ground-based natural disturbance observations in European forests from 1950 to 2019. Reported data confirm a significant increase in forest disturbance in 34 European countries, causing on an average of 43.8 million m3 of disturbed timber volume per year over the 70-year study period. This value is likely a conservative estimate due to under-reporting, especially of small-scale disturbances. We used machine learning techniques for assessing the magnitude of unreported disturbances, which are estimated to be between 8.6 and 18.3 million m3/year. In the last 20 years, disturbances on average accounted for 16% of the mean annual harvest in Europe. Wind was the most important disturbance agent over the study period (46% of total damage), followed by fire (24%) and bark beetles (17%). Bark beetle disturbance doubled its share of the total damage in the last 20 years. Forest disturbances can profoundly impact ecosystem services (e.g., climate change mitigation), affect regional forest resource provisioning and consequently disrupt long-term management planning objectives and timber markets. We conclude that adaptation to changing disturbance regimes must be placed at the core of the European forest management and policy debate. Furthermore, a coherent and homogeneous monitoring system of natural disturbances is urgently needed in Europe, to better observe and respond to the ongoing changes in forest disturbance regimes

Wooden and bio-fuel

The article analyzes potential and actual utilization of agro and wooden biofuel in Lithuania. More detailed analysis are done of biofuel which grows or potentially able to grow in temperate climate zone. These studies show that in certain sectors the potential of biofuel greatly exceeds actual use. The article also draws attention to the biofuel sector influencing policy decisions at EU and national levels.Straipsnyje nagrinėjami medienos bei agro- biokuro ruoša, panaudojimas ir galimas potencialas Lietuvoje. Išsamiau aptariamos mūsų klimato sąlygomis augančios ar potencialiai galinčios augti biokurui tinkančios medžių ir žemės ūkio augalų rūšys. Atlikti tyrimai rodo, kad tam tikruose sektoriuose biokuro potencialas keletą ar net keliasdešimt kartų viršija faktinį jo panaudojimą. Straipsnyje taip pat atkreipiamas dėmesys į įtaką biokuro sektoriui darančius politinius sprendimus ES ir nacionaliniu lygmenimis

Assessing the Effects of Accounting Methods for Carbon Storage in Harvested Wood Products on the National Carbon Budget of Lithuania

Forests and the forest-based sector play important roles in mitigating climate change through carbon sequestration and storage in living biomass and soil. In Europe, the forest sector is the only sector that positively affects atmospheric carbon balance. After the forest harvest, a large share of carbon is removed together with the wood. This wood carbon might be stored for centuries if in the form of long-lived wood products. In 2011, the United Nations decided that countries should account for and report carbon balance not only in forests but also in harvested wood products (HWP), followed by very general guidelines on methods for carbon accounting in HWP. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) proposed three methodological levels called tiers for estimating carbon stock and its changes in HWP. The first reporting period revealed that countries applied different carbon accounting methods (tiers), therefore comparing the carbon budgets of HWP and the effect of climate change mitigation among different countries is difficult. In order to test the differences between carbon accounting methods proposed by the IPCC guidelines, we applied two carbon accounting methods and used different data sources in the case of Lithuania. The methods applied were the IPCC Tier 2 method (data on HWP from statistics or the literature, default half-life values, and default HWP categories) and material flow analysis, which is compatible with the IPCC Tier 3 method (material flow data on HWP, country-specific half-life values, and country-specific HWP categories). Depending on the availability of historical data from different sources for the purpose of this study, three study periods were defined: 1992⁻2015 Food and Agriculture Organization Corporate Statistical Database (FAOSTAT) data, 1960⁻1991 data from the literature, and 1940⁻1991 data from national statistics. The study findings show that carbon stock in HWP significantly differed when different data sources and methods were applied. The highest carbon stock in HWP (19.5 Mt) at the end of the study period was observed when FAOSTAT data from 1992⁻2015 were used and the Tier 3 method was applied. The lowest carbon stock in HWP (11.2 Mt) at the end of the study period was observed when data from national statistics from 1940⁻1991 were used and the Tier 2 method was applied. The carbon inflow into the pool of HWP in all cases was estimated to be 40% higher when material flow analysis was applied compared to the IPCC default (Tier 2) method. These findings suggest that in general it is more reasonable to apply the Tier 3 method for carbon accounting of HWP in Lithuania

Trade-offs in sustainability impacts of introducing cascade use of wood

<p>The aim of this study was to analyse the sustainability impacts of allocating material from energy use to material use by adding cascaded wood into production of wood products. A case study is presented, where we analyse sustainability impacts of cascade use alternatives compared to the non-cascade use practice in particleboard production within the province of North Karelia, Finland. Direct impacts are captured using sustainability indicators representing environmental, economic and social aspects of sustainability. Results show that introducing cascaded wood can increase carbon storage in wood products, employment and production costs. Energy use and GHG emissions increase as well, when the total industrial activity during the lifetime of wood increases. We conclude that cascade use can improve resource efficiency as it enables the use of wood multiple times before combustion; however, the amount of waste wood for energy generation decreases locally, and alternative sources of energy need to be identified.</p

Significant increase in natural disturbance impacts on European forests since 1950

Over the last decades, the natural disturbance is increasingly putting pressure on European forests. Shifts in disturbance regimes may compromise forest functioning and the continuous provisioning of ecosystem services to society, including their climate change mitigation potential. Although forests are central to many European policies, we lack the long-term empirical data needed for thoroughly understanding disturbance dynamics, modeling them, and developing adaptive management strategies. Here, we present a unique database of >170,000 records of ground-based natural disturbance observations in European forests from 1950 to 2019. Reported data confirm a significant increase in forest disturbance in 34 European countries, causing on an average of 43.8 million m3 of disturbed timber volume per year over the 70-year study period. This value is likely a conservative estimate due to under-reporting, especially of small-scale disturbances. We used machine learning techniques for assessing the magnitude of unreported disturbances, which are estimated to be between 8.6 and 18.3 million m3/year. In the last 20 years, disturbances on average accounted for 16% of the mean annual harvest in Europe. Wind was the most important disturbance agent over the study period (46% of total damage), followed by fire (24%) and bark beetles (17%). Bark beetle disturbance doubled its share of the total damage in the last 20 years. Forest disturbances can profoundly impact ecosystem services (e.g., climate change mitigation), affect regional forest resource provisioning and consequently disrupt long-term management planning objectives and timber markets. We conclude that adaptation to changing disturbance regimes must be placed at the core of the European forest management and policy debate. Furthermore, a coherent and homogeneous monitoring system of natural disturbances is urgently needed in Europe, to better observe and respond to the ongoing changes in forest disturbance regimes

Significant increase in natural disturbance impacts on European forests since 1950

Over the last decades, the natural disturbance is increasingly putting pressure on European forests. Shifts in disturbance regimes may compromise forest functioning and the continuous provisioning of ecosystem services to society, including their climate change mitigation potential. Although forests are central to many European policies, we lack the long-term empirical data needed for thoroughly understanding disturbance dynamics, modeling them, and developing adaptive management strategies. Here, we present a unique database of >170,000 records of ground-based natural disturbance observations in European forests from 1950 to 2019. Reported data confirm a significant increase in forest disturbance in 34 European countries, causing on an average of 43.8 million m3 of disturbed timber volume per year over the 70-year study period. This value is likely a conservative estimate due to under-reporting, especially of small-scale disturbances. We used machine learning techniques for assessing the magnitude of unreported disturbances, which are estimated to be between 8.6 and 18.3 million m3/year. In the last 20 years, disturbances on average accounted for 16% of the mean annual harvest in Europe. Wind was the most important disturbance agent over the study period (46% of total damage), followed by fire (24%) and bark beetles (17%). Bark beetle disturbance doubled its share of the total damage in the last 20 years. Forest disturbances can profoundly impact ecosystem services (e.g., climate change mitigation), affect regional forest resource provisioning and consequently disrupt long-term management planning objectives and timber markets. We conclude that adaptation to changing disturbance regimes must be placed at the core of the European forest management and policy debate. Furthermore, a coherent and homogeneous monitoring system of natural disturbances is urgently needed in Europe, to better observe and respond to the ongoing changes in forest disturbance regimes