Management Strategies for Wood Fuel Harvesting—Trade-Offs with Biodiversity and Forest Ecosystem Services

Jeannette Eggers, Ylva Melin, Johanna Lundström, Dan Bergström and Karin Öhman
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Jeannette Eggers: Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 901 83 Umeå, Sweden
Ylva Melin: Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 901 83 Umeå, Sweden
Johanna Lundström: Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 901 83 Umeå, Sweden
Dan Bergström: Department of Forest Biomaterials and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 901 83 Umeå, Sweden
Karin Öhman: Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 901 83 Umeå, Sweden

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 10, 1-20

Abstract: Bioenergy is expected to contribute to mitigating climate change. One major source for bioenergy is woody biomass from forests, including logging residues, stumps, and whole trees from young dense stands. However, at increased extraction rates of woody biomass, the forest ecosystem, its biodiversity, and its ability to contribute to fundamental ecosystem services will be affected. We used simulation and optimization techniques to assess the impact of different management strategies on the supply of bioenergy and the trade-offs between wood fuel harvesting, biodiversity, and three other ecosystem services—reindeer husbandry, carbon storage, and recreation. The projections covered 100 years and a forest area of 3 million ha in northern Sweden. We found that the development of novel and cost-effective management systems for biomass outtake from young dense stands may provide options for a significant supply of bioenergy to the emerging bioeconomy, while at the same time securing biodiversity and important ecosystem values in future stand developments. In addition, there is potential to increase the extraction of harvest residues and stumps while simultaneously improving conditions for biodiversity and the amount of carbon stored in forest ecosystems compared to current levels. However, the projected continuing trend of increased forest density (in terms of basal area) has a negative impact on the potential for reindeer husbandry and recreation, which calls for researching new management strategies on landscape levels.

Keywords: decision support; trade-off; woody biofuels; harvest residues; forest management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:10:p:4089-:d:359119

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