EU wood production vs. biodiversity goals – possible reconciliation in Finland?

Räty, Minna; Juutinen, Artti; Korhonen, Kari T.; Syrjänen, Kimmo; Kärkkäinen, Leena

doi:10.1080/02827581.2023.2229732

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 61 publications

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“…Sufficient protection benefit is achieved when the 10% strict conservation target is reached in each province in Finland. In the simulation study of Räty et al (2023), implementation of EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 resulted in lower total growing stock and increased proportion of younger forests in managed forests when the target harvest levels remained on current level under current climate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of forest conservation and management on timber, ecosystem carbon, dead wood and habitat suitability area in a boreal forest under climate change

Pikkarainen,

Strandman,

Vento

et al. 2024

Silva Fenn

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We used forest ecosystem model simulations to study how forest conservation and management intensity affected timber yield, ecosystem carbon stocks, amount of dead wood, and habitat suitability area in a middle boreal forest region of Finland under changing climate over a 90-year simulation period. We used the following forest conservation and management scenarios: baseline forest management (BM), BM with 10 or 20% increase of conservation area with or without intensified forest management (i.e. improved forest regeneration material and forest fertilization). The simulations were done under current climate (reference period of 1981–2010), and Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) climate change projections under the RCP2.6 and RCP4.5 forcing scenarios. Overall, increasing the forest conservation area decreased timber yield and increased the ecosystem carbon stock, the amount of dead wood and consequently the area of suitable habitat for saproxylic species. The use of intensified forest management reduced the loss of timber yield, increased ecosystem carbon stock, the amount of dead wood and area of suitable habitat for saproxylic species. At the end of simulation period, the use of intensified forest management even overcompensated (4–6% higher) the timber loss from 10% increase of conservation area. Under changing climate, timber yield, the amount of dead wood and the area of suitable habitats for saproxylic species increased. To conclude, with intensified forest management it is possible, in the short term, to decrease the loss of timber yield through increased forest conservation area and in the long term maintain or even increase it compared to baseline forest management.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of forest conservation and management on timber, ecosystem carbon, dead wood and habitat suitability area in a boreal forest under climate change

Pikkarainen,

Strandman,

Vento

et al. 2024

Silva Fenn

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Cost-efficiency analysis of multiple ecosystem services across forest management regimes

Rana,

Juutinen,

Eyvindson

et al. 2024

Journal of Environmental Management

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Reconciling the EU forest, biodiversity, and climate strategies

Gregor,

Reyer,

Nagel

et al. 2024

Global Change Biology

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Forests provide important ecosystem services (ESs), including climate change mitigation, local climate regulation, habitat for biodiversity, wood and non‐wood products, energy, and recreation. Simultaneously, forests are increasingly affected by climate change and need to be adapted to future environmental conditions. Current legislation, including the European Union (EU) Biodiversity Strategy, EU Forest Strategy, and national laws, aims to protect forest landscapes, enhance ESs, adapt forests to climate change, and leverage forest products for climate change mitigation and the bioeconomy. However, reconciling all these competing demands poses a tremendous task for policymakers, forest managers, conservation agencies, and other stakeholders, especially given the uncertainty associated with future climate impacts. Here, we used process‐based ecosystem modeling and robust multi‐criteria optimization to develop forest management portfolios that provide multiple ESs across a wide range of climate scenarios. We included constraints to strictly protect 10% of Europe's land area and to provide stable harvest levels under every climate scenario. The optimization showed only limited options to improve ES provision within these constraints. Consequently, management portfolios suffered from low diversity, which contradicts the goal of multi‐functionality and exposes regions to significant risk due to a lack of risk diversification. Additionally, certain regions, especially those in the north, would need to prioritize timber provision to compensate for reduced harvests elsewhere. This conflicts with EU LULUCF targets for increased forest carbon sinks in all member states and prevents an equal distribution of strictly protected areas, introducing a bias as to which forest ecosystems are more protected than others. Thus, coordinated strategies at the European level are imperative to address these challenges effectively. We suggest that the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy, EU Forest Strategy, and targets for forest carbon sinks require complementary measures to alleviate the conflicting demands on forests.

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EU wood production vs. biodiversity goals – possible reconciliation in Finland?

Cited by 5 publications

References 61 publications

Effects of forest conservation and management on timber, ecosystem carbon, dead wood and habitat suitability area in a boreal forest under climate change

Effects of forest conservation and management on timber, ecosystem carbon, dead wood and habitat suitability area in a boreal forest under climate change

Cost-efficiency analysis of multiple ecosystem services across forest management regimes

Reconciling the EU forest, biodiversity, and climate strategies

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