BackgroundAt the 15th Conference of Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Copenhagen, 2009, harvested wood products were identified as an additional carbon pool. This modification eliminates inconsistencies in greenhouse gas reporting by recognizing the role of the forest and timber sector in the global carbon cycle. Any additional CO2-effects related to wood usage are not considered by this modification. This results in a downward bias when the contribution of the forest and timber sector to climate change mitigation is assessed. The following article analyses the overall contribution to climate protection made by the forest management and wood utilization through CO2-emissions reduction using an example from the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Based on long term study periods (2011 to 2050 and 2100, respectively). Various alternative scenarios for forest management and wood usage are presented.ResultsIn the mid- to long-term (2050 and 2100, respectively) the net climate protection function of scenarios with varying levels of wood usage is higher than in scenarios without any wood usage. This is not observed for all scenarios on short and mid term evaluations.The advantages of wood usage are evident although the simulations resulted in high values for forest storage in the C pools. Even the carbon sink effect due to temporal accumulation of deadwood during the period from 2011 to 2100 is outbalanced by the potential of wood usage effects.ConclusionsA full assessment of the CO2-effects of the forest management requires an assessment of the forest supplemented with an assessment of the effects of wood usage. CO2-emission reductions through both fuel and material substitution as well as CO2 sink in wood products need to be considered.An integrated assessment of the climate protection function based on the analysis of the study’s scenarios provides decision parameters for a strategic approach to climate protection with regard to forest management and wood use at regional and national levels.The short-term evaluation of subsystems can be misleading, rendering long-term evaluations (until 2100, or even longer) more effective. This is also consistent with the inherently long-term perspective of forest management decisions and measures.

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Freshly harvested palm trunks and timber with their high moisture content (MC) are susceptible to fungi due to the high content of easily consumable sugars and starch as long as MC of the tissue is above fiber saturation point (FSP). To test the influence of sugars and starch on fungal development, small wood samples from oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) were watered and their contents of the non-structural carbohydrates were measured. Glucose was the most abundant substance in the extract, followed by starch, fructose, and sucrose. Watering for 3 and 10 days with daily water exchange reduced the content of sugars and starch considerably. Untreated and watered samples were then subjected to spore suspensions of the moulds Aspergillus niger, Penicillium commune, to a natural infection by air-born spores and to the blue-stain-fungi Alternaria alternata and Aureobasidium pullulans. The former colonized the surface of the untreated samples within a few days, while the latter caused considerable mass loss. With increasing watering both fungal activities were reduced as the nutrients for the fungi were removed. The woods of E. guineensis and Phoenix dactylifera (date palm) with MC above FSP were treated with acetic and propionic acid and subsequently infected by moulds, staining and decay fungi. Short dipping in solutions of 2% acetic acid and 2% propionic acid, respectively, protected all samples for 3 months against the mould fungi. Staining fungi and wood-decay fungi were slightly inhibited by a treatment with 5% acid concentration. Treatment with these acids offers a protection technique for the practice. Their sodium salts were ineffective due to their high pH-value.

In the wood of trees of/l/'/cs^/ia Mill., which wore affected by "fir-dying", morphological and physiological alterations were exatnined in order to investigate the origin of the disease. In this conte.xt ahso the influence on the technological wood quality was considered.