Forests in the Bio-based Economy seminar September 27th, 2016 Prof. Hannu Ilvesniemi Natural Resource Institute Finland

1. © Natural Resources Institute Finland© Natural Resources Institute Finland
Prof. Hannu Ilvesniemi
Sustainable use of forests
and the carbon-neutrality
targets can be combined

2. © Natural Resources Institute Finland
Forests are sinks of carbon and sources of
biodiversity

3. © Natural Resources Institute Finland
The annual growth of Finnish forests during the
last 75 years
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Forests in the bio-based economy

4. © Natural Resources Institute Finland
The development of the amount of standing
forests in Finland according to the National Forest
Inventories
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5. © Natural Resources Institute Finland
Sustainable use of forests and the carbon-
neutrality targets can be combined
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6. © Natural Resources Institute Finland
The growth rate of forests (dX/dt) depends on environmental
factors like radiation (r), temperature (t), moisture (w) and on the
other hand on investments done into forests (i) (including, site
preparation, planting, plant breeding and fertilization)
The change in the tree biomass in forests can be presented as a
spatial (s) and temporal (t) integral (∫) of these factors
t s
∫ ∫ (r, t, w, i)
0 0
In such calculations, if the time period looked at is short, the
spatial area observed has to be large enough (preferably wholy
country) and if the spatial area looked at is small, the observation
period needs to be long enough like (80 years), otherwise the
calculation is not sensible.
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7. © Natural Resources Institute Finland
Repeated cuttings can be combined with increasing
growing stock when forests, not a single stand, are taken
into account
0
50
100
150
200
250
300

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To understand the logic of the carbon
sinks of forests is challengin
The annual growth of Finnish forests was in 1970 c.a. 50
milj. m3/a. After that more than 10 billion E has been
invested to several silvicultural operations and due to that
Finnish forests grow now more than 100 milj. m3/a.
When suggesting to store carbon in older forests the
outcom is not an increased sink but the opposite e.g. due
to the reduced interest to invest in the future forest
growth.
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9. © Natural Resources Institute Finland
The primary cause of climate
change is the use of fossil fuels
By taking good care of forests the case of
Finland serves as an example of the
unexpected situation where the intensive use
and good care of forests we have increased
simultaneously the biomass use, growth and
standing biomass.
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10. © Natural Resources Institute Finland
Sustainability of forest energy in Northern Europe
Kati Koponen, Laura Sokka, Olli Salminen, Risto Sievänen, Kim
Pingoud, Hannu Ilvesniemi, Johanna Routa, Tanja Ikonen, Tiina
Koljonen, Eija Alakangas, Antti Asikainen and Kai Sipilä
VTT TECHNOLOGY 237
http://www.vtt.fi/inf/pdf/technology/2015/T237.pdf
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11. © Natural Resources Institute Finland
Thank you!
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