Economic Evaluation of Different Implementation Variants and Categories of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 Using Forestry in Germany as a Case Study

The EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 (EUBDS) aims to preserve and restore biodiversity by protecting large areas in the EU. An extensive part of these protected areas will presumably be covered by forests. This study analyses the economic effects of EUBDS implementation on German forestry in two scenarios, based on different possible interpretations of the EUBDS’ key commitments, using a forest economic simulation model. A special focus is placed on the opportunity costs of coarse wood debris (CWD). Over a simulated 200-year period, a decrease in timber harvest of 13% and 44% is estimated under the respective scenario assumptions. This leads to a reduction in the silvicultural contribution margin (SCM) of on average 0.25 B EUR a−1 (14%) and 0.79 B EUR a−1 (45%). In terms of the total SCM, protected forests contribute 35% and 15% in the two scenarios. The accumulation and preservation of CWD incurs a substantial loss of utility, as 15% and 19% of annual logging is required for conservation purposes. However, the EUBDS may also provide economically tangible benefits. A rational decision would be to implement a scenario if the “net benefit” from the protected status exceeds the losses from set-aside and conservation requirements

Factors Explaining the Willingness of Small-Scale Private Forest Owners to Engage in Forestry—A German Case Study

In Germany, 24% of the forest area is owned by small-scale private forest owners, whose property is affected by a societal demand for forest-related ecosystem services. In the inhomogeneous group of small-scale private forest owners, different living conditions and lifestyles exist, which are affecting the management of the forest ownership. To support the management activities of small-scale private forest owners, institutional instruments exist, but these are only used by a small proportion of forest owners. In order to gain insights into the accessibility and activation of small-scale private forest owners for management, and to draw conclusions for appropriate support instruments, a large number of studies have analyzed the factors influencing the management activities of forest owners. Some studies identify socio-demographic and socio-economic variables as important influencing factors, but do not take into account their complex interdependencies, which have developed as a result of the pluralization of lifestyles and individualization of forest owners. For this reason, in addition to the influencing factors identified in the literature as relevant for forest management activities of small-scale private forest owners, the lifestyle segmentation approach of Sinus milieus established in German market research was applied in this study. This approach allocates forest owners based on their complex lifestyles into ten different milieu groups. A logistic regression analysis was used to determine the parameters influencing the willingness to engage in eight different forest management activities. The results show that the willingness to engage in forest management activities in the future is higher compared to actions in the past. In addition to timber harvesting-related activities, the small-scale private forest owners show a high action potential for non-commodity-related activities. Non-commodity-related activities can primarily be explained by the Sinus milieu affiliation of the small-scale private forest owners. This result underlines the usefulness of a lifestyle segmentation approach such as the Sinus milieus to address small-scale private forest owners in a target group specific way in line with their willingness to engage in specific forest management activities. Institutional instruments such as the membership in a forest owners association or subsidies do not play a significant role for non-commodity-related activities and seem to be inappropriate for targeting small-scale private forest owners for these activities. Timber harvesting-related activities are primarily influenced by the presence of professional foresters, socio-demographic factors or institutional instruments. Based on these empirical findings, implications can be drawn for the target group-specific addressing of forest owners based on different management activities. In this way, forest owners can be motivated to engage in forest management and the provision of forest-related ecosystem services

Assessment of Possible Production Leakage from Implementing the EU Biodiversity Strategy on Forest Product Markets

The EU Biodiversity Strategy (EUBDS) for 2030 aims at regaining biodiversity by strengthening the protection of nature in the European Union. This study models and analyses possible impacts of the EUBDS on the production and trade of forest-based products in the EU and non-EU countries in two alternative scenarios. Implementing EUBDS measures would allow a maximum EU roundwood production of roughly 281 M m3 in 2030 in the intensive and 490 M m3 in the moderate scenario. Since in the reference scenario, the EU roundwood production amounts to 539 M m3 in 2030, this represent a reduction of −48% and −9% in 2030, respectively. Until 2050, the production further decreases and accounts for 42% and 90% of the reference production. Globally, the EU roundwood production deficit is compensated partly (roughly between 50%–60%) by increasing production of roundwood in non-EU countries (e.g., USA, Russia, Canada, China and Brazil) whereas the remaining share of the EU production deficit is no longer produced and consumed worldwide. In the EU, reduced roundwood availability leads to a lower production of wood-based products, although, apparent consumption of wood-based products remains similar. This is mainly caused by significantly lower export volumes of wood-based products and, for some product groups, by significantly increased imports as well. This is partly due to unchanged assumptions regarding income and thus, demand patterns. However, on a global level, decreased production and consumption of wood-based products could lead to a growing use of non-bio-based resources to substitute wood-products. Our study also shows that the magnitude of effects strongly depends on how much the use of forest resources is actually restricted

European Forest Accounts: Establishing the core tables on wooded land and timber. A comparative analysis of German, Austrian and Finnish approaches

201

Potenziale einer biobasierten Wirtschaft

„Mit nachwachsenden Ressourcen die Abhängigkeit von Öl vermindern“ – so untertitelt die Bundesregierung ihre Strategie zur Förderung der Bioökonomie in Deutschland (BMBF 2013). Zur Bioökonomie zählen alle Wirtschaftsbereiche, die nachwachsende Rohstoffe erzeugen, verarbeiten und handeln. Nachwachsende Rohstoffe werden vornehmlich von der Land‐ und Forstwirtschaft sowie der Fischerei und Aquakultur zur Verfügung gestellt. Doch in welchem Umfang geschieht dies? Welche Mengen werden importiert, welche exportiert? Wie werden sie gegenwärtig genutzt? Fallen Abfall‐ und Reststoffe an, die verwertet werden können? Ziel dieses Berichts ist, einen Überblick über Produktion, Handel und Verwendung von Produkten aus Land‐ und Forstwirtschaft sowie aus Fischerei und Aquakultur zu geben. Zukünftige Potenziale sowie Möglichkeiten, Rest‐ bzw. Abfallstoffe energetisch zu verwerten, werden bewertet. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Landwirtschaft vor allem Futter‐ und Lebensmittel erzeugt. Dennoch werden in Deutschland bereits mehr als zehn Prozent der landwirtschaftlichen Fläche zur Herstellung von Rohstoffen für energetische und stoffliche Verwendung genutzt. Die Potenziale für Energiegewinnung aus Rest‐ und Abfallstoffen erscheinen gering. Der größte Teil der Fisch‐ und Fischereinebenprodukte dient in Deutschland als Nahrungsmittel. Abfälle bei der Fischverarbeitung können vollständig zur Herstellung von Fischmehl und Fischöl verwendet werden. Von einer Zunahme der Fangmengen kann bei den für die deutsche Fischerei wichtigen Arten nicht ausgegangen werden. Bei der Verwendung von Rohholz in Deutschland entfallen rund drei Fünftel auf die stoffliche Nutzung, zwei Fünftel auf die energetische Verwertung. Letztere ist in den vergangenen Jahren vor allem in privaten Haushalten stark gestiegen. Die Nutzungspotenziale von Holz in Deutschland sind weitgehend ausgeschöpft oder unterliegen Restriktionen aus Gründen des Naturschutzes-------------------------------„Reducing oil dependence with renewable resources“ – this is how the German Federal Government subtitles its strategy to strengthen the bio‐based economy (BMBF 2013). The bioeconomy encompasses all economic sectors that produce, process and trade bio‐based renewable resources. The raw materials are largely provided by agriculture, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture. But in which quantities are they produced? Which quantities are imported and exported? How are the raw materials currently utilised? Are there residual or waste materials that can be used? The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of production, trade and utilisation of products from the agricultural and forestry sectors as well as from aquatic resources and aquaculture. Future potentials as well as the possibilities of using residual and waste materials for energy production are assessed. The results show that the agricultural sector primarily produces food and feed. Notwithstanding, more than ten percent of the agricultural area in Germany is currently dedicated to the production of raw materials for energy and material uses. The potentials for the generation of energy from residual and waste materials are deemed to be small. A large share of products and by‐products from fisheries and aquaculture are consumed as food in Germany. Waste from fish processing can be completely used for the production of fish meal and oil. An increase of catch of the species that are relevant for the German fishery sector seems unlikely. Roughly three fifths of the consumption of raw wood in Germany are attributed to material use, the remaining two fifths to energetic use. The latter sharply increased in recent years, mainly driven by the growing demand of private households. Due to overexploitation, especially of spruce, in the past the potential use of raw wood in German forests is largely exhausted or restricted by environmental protection schemes

European Forest Accounts: Establishing the economic aggregates of the forestry and logging industry. A comparative analysis of Austrian, German and Finnish approaches

201

Status quo der Umsetzung von Naturschutz im Wald gegen Entgelt in Deutschland. Ergebnisse einer Befragung von Forstbetrieben

Contract-based nature conservation or payments for nature conservation measures are de facto sporadically implemented in forests. Against this background, the joint research project “Nature Conservation Contracts in Forests (WaVerNa Project)” aims to analyze the current implementation status as well as opportunities and constraints of nature conservation contracts in the field of forest ecology, economics and law. In this context representatives of forest enterprises were asked in a nationwide online survey referring to their engagement in forest nature conservation for a consideration. The answers of 195 representatives of forest enterprises which either have already experiences in forest nature conservation contracts or intend its implementation in near future were assessed. Although the online survey was carried out as an open questionnaire, mainly middle-sized and large forest enterprises have participated. Thus, they build a non-representative sample for a nationwide assessment of the implementation practice, referring to payments for nature conservation in forest. As the answers indicate, a large scale of forest nature conservation measures is principally implemented by different funding instruments and programs. These areas cover up to 5 % of the forestal income in most of the consulted forest enterprises. More than half of the enterprises stated, that payments for nature conservation measures contribute up to 5 % of the whole turnover related to forestry. In a few cases these payments for nature conservation in forests significantly exceed the remaining forest income. Three-quarter of the forest enterprises stated positive experiences regarding nature conservation contracts, one third plans to raise its engagement. Less than one third of those forest enterprises, which have already experiences in forest nature conservation, plans to implement nature conservation measures in the future. A possible explanation for this apparent contradiction is that the potential for nature conservation measures is currently exhausted in the forest enterprises. But in summary, the results of the online survey suggest that a scarce demand referring to nature conservation measures in forests does not seem to be the only constraint for limiting the interest on side of forest enterprises. Based up on the results of the online survey, it can be stated further, that a significant increase of forest enterprises’ engagement in nature conservation cannot be expected under the current framework

Einschlagstopp in alten, naturnahen Buchenwäldern im öffentlichen Besitz : Definition, Vorkommen, Inventur-Kennzahlen, Gefährdung und ökonomische Bewertung

The coalition agreement of the German government stipulates that logging in old, near-natural beech forests in public ownership should be stopped (SPD/Grüne/FDP 2021, line 1219-1220). In this Thünen Working Paper, possible definitions and their occurrence are presented for old, near-natural beech forests, central inventory key figures for these forests are presented, possible threats are described and economic evaluations are carried out. We propose the following definition to operationalise the term "old, near-natural beech forests": forests with (1) >75 % beech share of the basal area, (2) a minimum age of 140 years, (3) occurrence at sites currently suitable for beech (inclusive risk area) and (4) a minimum area of 1 ha. More detailed explanations of the criteria can be found in section 3.1. Without the minimum area criterion, the area of old, near-natural beech forests comprises 205,200 ha; if all four of the above criteria are considered, then a rough estimate of 168,300 ha with a minimum area of 1 ha remains Waldfläche [ha] (ohne Kleinstflächen 130 J.) 1.500 *Staatswald zusammengefasst, weil wegen der geringen Flächen im Bundeswald keine abgesicherten getrennten Schätzungen möglich sind. ** Die verfügbaren Nutzenschätzungen können der Fläche der über 130-jährigen Bestände im öffentlichen Wald mit einem Buchenanteil von mindestens 50 % zugerechnet werden