Publications
NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.
2025
Authors
Ana Aza Baders, Endijs García-Gil, M Rosario Kniivilä, Matleena Ling, Erik Lukmine, Diana Mustonen, Mika Rautio, Pasi Svensson, Johan Tolvanen, Anne Knut ØistadAbstract
Key messages: Multifunctionality should serve as a guiding principle for forest governance and investment, complementing production and conservation objectives. To operationalise this vision, three guiding principles should inform EU and national policies: • Plan and manage at the landscape level balancing production, biodiversity, climate adaptation and social needs in complementary ways. Policies should support a diversity of management practices. • Align sectoral policies to ensure coherence between forestry, energy, biodiversity, climate and social objectives. • Reward and support multifunctionality explicitly through advisory programmes, certification systems, and financial mechanisms that recognise and support diverse management practices.
Authors
Merethe Dotterud Leiren Torbjørg Jevnaker Erlend Andre T. Hermansen Lars Harald Gulbrandsen Jørgen Wettestad Knut ØistadAbstract
As the EU intensifies its climate ambitions with the upcoming 2040 targets, it is crucial to understand how implementation of existing EU climate policies is going. How well are current policies working on the ground? Are we on track – or are there gaps that need urgent attention? As the debate around the 2040 targets heats up, this policy brief provides a timely assessment of how existing policies play out in practice and to what extent and how implementation varies across countries. Looking at Norway and Denmark, we compare the implementation of three EU regulations, which were revised in 2023: the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS), the Effort-Sharing Regulation (ESR) and the Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF) sector.
Authors
Merethe Dotterud Leiren Gunnell Sandanger Torbjørg Jevnaker Erlend Andre T. Hermansen Knut Øistad Jørgen WettestadAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Knut ØistadAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Litter decomposition is coupled to carbon (C) sequestration through C release to the atmosphere, C transformation and nutrient release to the soil. We investigated if clear-cutting has long-term effects on this vital ecological process and consequently on C dynamics in boreal forests using twelve pairs of previously clear-cut and near-natural forests. Three litterbag experiments were conducted using (I) standardised spruce and bilberry litter, (II) melanised and non-melanised fungal necromass and (III) rooibos and green tea. We found weak and inconsistent effects of harvesting history, that did not depend on litter quality or mesofauna exclusion. Litter quality was more important in explaining net mass remaining for fungal necromass than for aboveground plant litter. Mesofauna exclusion had only marginal effects on initial litter decomposition. Results obtained with the highly standardised Tea Bag Index were not readily comparable to those of the plant litter or fungal necromass and we therefore question its use in this regional context. Further, we show that net mass or C remaining in the litterbags do not correlate consistently with in situ soil respiration. This finding is discussed in relation to previous measurements of soil C fluxes from the same system. In conclusion, we suggest that potential disturbances to the physical environment or the capacity of the decomposer community to facilitate litter decomposition are no longer clearly evident when clear-cut stands approach maturity.
Authors
M. Pecurul-Botines A. Giurca H. Pülzl K. Niedzialkowski M. Brockhaus L. Bouriaud V. Brukas S. Hajtmarova M.A. Hoogstra-Klein A. Konczal L. Marcinekova Knut Øistad Š. Pezdevšek Malovrh N. Pietarinen L. Secco J.-L. Roux B. Wolfslehner G. WinkelAbstract
Conflicts have arisen between Member States and the European Commission around the European Union Forest Strategy either because of differing opinions on whether forests should be considered as a commodity, as nature to be conserved, or because of disagreements about the EU’s competencies vis-`a-vis national sovereignty of forests. These conflicts highlight high and diverging stakes in the EU’s governance of forest ecosystems. At the national level, impending changes related to EU regulations impact the forest-based sector and its governance, including monitoring and access to finance. Despite not being legally binding, the EU Forest Strategy is significantly influencing national policies within the broader EU political framework. To what extent this new strategy exacerbates existing conflicts or shapes new ones is not well understood. The main objective of this study is to understand whether and how conflicts and different policy prioritization may influence the implementation of this key EU Strategy at the national level. Theoretically, this study draws on Europeanization studies to understand how different forest-related conflicts are connected to attempts to integrate European forest policy at the EU level. Empirically, an analysis of policy documents and interviews with policy experts in 15 European countries was conducted. Our analysis provides a rich overview of the extent to which diverse national policy developments align with the EU Forest Strategy goals and how these developments connect to existing or newly emerging conflicts around the Strategy’s implementation. Based on these insights, we suggest potential ways to overcome the challenges and advance forest policy in Europe.
Authors
Ignacio Sevillano Aksel Granhus Clara Antón Fernandéz Heleen de Wit Fride Høistad Schei Rannveig Margrete Jacobsen Ulrika Jansson Asplund Heikki Korpunen Christian Wilhelm Mohr Jenni Nordén Jørund Rolstad Svein Solberg Ken Olaf Storaunet Marta VergarecheaAbstract
There is an increasing interest in continuous cover forestry (CCF) as an alternative to clearcutting to promote multi-objective forests and preserve continuous maintenance of forest cover. Here, we assessed the effect that an increased use of CCF harvesting methods (shelterwood and selection cutting) in Norwegian forests can have on carbon sequestration. Thus, we simulated CO2 uptake in Norwegian forest stands throughout the 21st century under three scenarios that represent different levels of clearcutting and CCF harvesting methods, keeping the annual harvest volumes constant across all scenarios. The three scenarios are: 1) Business-as-usual (reference scenario where 3.5% of the harvested volume is obtained using CCF harvesting methods); 2) Harvested volume using CCF harvesting methods is increased to 15%; 3) Harvested volume using CCF harvesting methods is increased to 25%. Increasing the proportion of CCF would increase CO2 removals in the long-term (2100), resulting in an additional uptake of nearly 32 and 24 Tg CO2 when increasing CCF up to 25% and 15%, respectively. However, the simulations also showed that to be able to harvest the same timber volume as in the reference scenario that reflects current practice, an increased proportion of CCF would also require logging on a larger proportion of the forest area. CCF could have also positive implications for certain aspects of biodiversity, such as species that require shaded conditions, but harvesting across a larger total area could negatively impact other animals, plants and fungi.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Ana AzaAbstract
Presentation at the PROFOR seminar in Norway