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.
2007
Abstract
The substitution of biomass for fossil fuels in energy consumption is a measure to mitigate global warming, as well as having other advantages. Political action plans for increased use exist at both European and national levels. This paper briefly reviews the contents of recommendations, guidelines, and other synthesis publications on sustainable use of forest biomass for energy. Topics are listed and an overview of advantages, disadvantages, and trade-offs between them is given, from the viewpoint of society in general and the forestry and energy sectors in particular. For the Nordic and Baltic countries, the paper also identifies the extent to which wood for energy is included in forest legislation and forest certification standards under the ?Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification? (PEFC) and the ?Forest Stewardship Council? (FSC) schemes. Energy and forest policies at EU and national levels, and European PEFC forest standards are analysed. With respect to energy policies, the utilisation of wood for energy is generally supported in forest policies, but forest legislation is seldom used as a direct tool to encourage the utilisation of wood for energy. Regulations sometimes restrict use for environmental reasons. Forest certification standards include indicators directly related to the utilisation of wood for energy under several criteria, with most occurrences found under environmental criteria. Roles and problems in relation to policy, legislation, certification standards, recommendations and guidelines, and science are discussed.
Authors
Inge Stupak Antti Asikainen M. Jonsell Erik Karltun Anders Lunnan D. Mizaraite K. Pasanen H. Pärn Karsten Raulund-Rasmussen Dominik Röser M. Schröder I. Varnagiryte L. Vilkriste Ingeborg Callesen Nicholas Clarke Talis Gaitnieks Morten Ingerslev M. Mandre R. Ozolincius Anna Saarsalmi Kestutis Armolaitis Heljä-Sisko Helmisaari A. Indriksons L. Kairiukstis K. Katzensteiner Mikko Kukkola K. Ots Hans Peter Ravn Pekka TamminenAbstract
The substitution of biomass for fossils fuels in energy consumption is a measure to mitigate global warming, as well as having other advantages. Political action plans for increased use exist at both European and national levels. This paper briefly reviews the contents of recommendations, guidelines and other synthesis publications on sustainable use of forest biomass for energy. Topics are listed and an overview of advantages, disadvantages and trade-offs between them is given, from the viewpoint of society in general and the forestry and energy sectors in particular. For the Nordic and Baltic countries, the paper also identifies the extent to which wood for energy is included in forest legislation and forest certification standards under the “Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification” (PEFC) and the “Forest Stewardship Council” (FSC) schemes. Energy and forest policies at EU and national levels, and European PEFC forest standards are analysed. With respect to energy policies, the utilisation of wood for energy is generally supported in forest policies, but forest legislation is seldom used as a direct tool to encourage the utilisation of wood for energy. Regulations sometimes restrict use for environmental reasons. Forest certification standards include indicators directly related to the utilisation of wood for energy under several criteria, with most occurrences found under environmental criteria. Roles and problems in relation to policy, legislation, certification standards, recommendations and guidelines, and science are discussed.
Authors
Gudbrand Lien Ståle Størdal Sjur BaardsenAbstract
In Norway, as in many other European countries, income from forestry has become marginal to owners? household economies and most employment of forest-owner households is now undertaken off the property. Also, many forest owners have focused increasingly on other revenue-earning activities on their properties, such as providing recreational services. It is a challenge in all kinds of production to find the optimal way of converting inputs into outputs, i.e., to be technically efficient. Extent of financial dependency on income from forestry differs between part-time and full-time forest owners. Since the two groups have different livelihood strategies, it is plausible that full-time forest owners have more professional forest management practices. Data for a cross-section of 3,249 active (i.e., harvesting) forest owners were extracted from the 2004 Sample Survey of Agriculture and Forestry representing the year 2003. A stochastic production frontier analysis was applied to evaluate forest management efficiency impacts of important factors including property and owner characteristics, outfield-related and agricultural activities, off-property income and geographical location in central or remote areas. It was found that many forest owners are technically inefficient, and there exist opportunities for improved performance. Off-property income was found to have an estimated negative impact on technical efficiency, the inefficiency arising (weakly) with increasing share of household incomes from outfield activities, and properties in urban centred areas are less efficient than those in remote areas. One policy implication of the study is that a potentially substantial efficiency increase might be achieved from allowing small inefficient woodlots to merge into larger units of forestry production. Also, providing support for forest management plans may improve efficiency.
Authors
John Derome Per Arild Aarrestad Paul Aspholm Vegar Bakkestuen Jarle Werner Bjerke Kjell Einar Erikstad Minna Hartikainen Ludmila Isaeva Martti Lindgren Antti-Jussi Lindroos Tor Myking Jarmo Poikolainen Pasi Rautio Ingvald Røsberg Maija Salemaa Hans Tømmervik Natalya VassilievaAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Svein Solberg Lars Eklundh Arnt Kristian Gjertsen Tomas Johansson Steve Joyce Holger Lange Erik Næsset Håkan Olsson Yong Pang Anne SolbergAbstract
The REMFOR project evaluates remote sensing data and methods for monitoring forest health using variation in leaf area index (LAI) as a primary measure of defoliation. A large-scale pine sawfly outbreak in Norway serves as a test case. An LAI map of the study area was derived from airborne LIDAR measurements before and after the insect attack to serve as ground truth for satellite image analysis. The method predicts LAI from laser penetration rates through the canopy layer in accordance with the Beer- Lambert law calibrated with point measurements of LAI with LICOR LAI-2000. Comparing two cloud-free SPOT scenes from September 2004 and September 2005 shows obvious visual patterns of defoliation in pine forests from the 2005 outbreak. Preliminary analysis shows that the insect defoliation caused an increase in middle-infrared (SPOT band4) reflectance and a decrease in SPOT NDVI, and both these responses may be used as a reasonable predictor of LAI loss as derived from laser scanning. MODIS NDVI data were gathered for the area over the period 2000-2006, and the Timesat algorithm is used to smooth the seasonal variation. The insect attack is evident from the smoothed NDVI data both as a reduction in the summer mean value, and as an alteration of the seasonal profile during the larvae feeding period in June and July. REMFOR also encompasses a range of other remote sensing data types, including GLAS LIDAR, SAR and hyperspectral data from both airborne and satellite platforms (e.g. Hyspex and Hyperion). Landsat TM is used to generate a tree species map.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Leif Jarle AsheimAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Model simulations show that an increased frequency in storms and drought periods may result in more frequent and shorter outbreaks of bark beetles. Warmer summers can result in two bark beetle generations per summer instead of one, giving bark beetles the opportunity to attack forests twice in a single year.
Abstract
Combinations of covering and fungicide applications were tested on two sweet cherry cultivars; Van during two years (2001 and 2002) and Lapins three years (2001"2003). The following treatments were tested in 2001 and 2002: (i) covering during flowering and from 5 to 6 weeks prior to harvest and throughout harvest, no fungicides applied, (ii) as (i) but fungicides were applied once or twice between the two covering periods, (iii) covered 5 to 6 weeks prior to harvest and throughout harvest, fungicides applied two or three times prior to covering, and (iv) uncovered throughout the season, fungicides applied two or three times in the period from flowering towards harvest. In 2003, the trees were covered only from 5 to 6 weeks prior to harvest and throughout harvest. Both treatments that year received fungicide applications during flowering, but one of the treatments was left unsprayed during the green fruit period prior to covering. Every combination of covering and fungicide applications reduced total fruit decay at harvest significantly compared to a full fungicide programme and no covering. In three of four trials when the trees were covered during flowering and prior to harvest, and fungicide applications were omitted in the green fruit phase between the covering periods, no significant increase in fruit rot occurred compared to treatments where fungicides were applied. However, in one trial there was a significant increase in fruit rot by leaving out one fungicide spray during that intermittent period. Furthermore, if fungicides were only applied during flowering and not on green fruit before covering in 2003, a significant increase in fruit rot occurred. Thus, leaving out fungicide applications during that supposedly less susceptible green fruit period, increased the risk of acquiring fruit rot. Applying fungicides during the green fruit stage significantly reduced the amount of brown rot in four of five trials and anthracnose in one of five trials. No negative effect on fruit quality was found from the extended covering periods. It can be concluded that covering effectively replaced fungicide applications during flowering and prior to harvest.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered