Browsing by Subject "forestry"

Populations of forest grouse – capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), black grouse (Lyurus tetrix) and hazel grouse (Tetrastes bonasia) - have been declining through all of Europe. Habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation are recognized to be the most important ultimate causes behind this trend. In Fennoscandia, there is a general consensus that forestry practices have a primary role, even though the mechanisms are still not fully understood. Nest predation is generally thought to be an important proximate cause of the declines, but how nest predation relates to habitat changes remains poorly understood. I combined long-term data provided by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE) from inventory studies, both for grouses and predators, with an artificial nest experiment. I investigated a) how predation rate varies with forest age and landscape structure; b) what is the possible role of non-native mesopredator species as predators; c) how nest predation rate relates to larger scale reproductive success. In spring 2021, I placed 141 nests with two hen eggs each, in the regions of Kainuu and North Karelia for 14 days with camera traps. The nests were equally divided between mature forests (>80 years), young forests (<40 years) and edges of mature forests (in a mature forest 5m from a clearcut or a field). I found that the overall predation rate was low (~13 %) and similar in the three sites, but predation time was faster in mature forests, suggesting that when these are scarce, they can act as an ecological trap by increasing nest detectability. However, nest predation decreased with the increasing of mature forests in the landscape around the nest, supporting the hypothesis that on a larger scale forestry may increase generalist predator densities. Areas with higher predator densities suffered higher nest losses. The main predators were pine martens, badgers and magpies, followed by bears and ravens. No nests were predated by raccoon dogs or American minks. There was no correlation between areas with higher nest predation and areas where grouse had lower reproductive success which may result from other factors, e.g., chick predation. My results add to the diverse outcomes of several studies of grouse nest predation in Europe, which together indicate large variation in nest predation, no consistency in predatory species, and weak effects of landscape composition on nest predation.

Biochar is a porous, carbon-rich material, made from organic material by pyrolysis in low oxygen conditions, and it can be used to sequester carbon into the soil. This review aspires to give an overview of the economic dimensions of using biochar in Finnish (Boreal and sub-boreal) forests. A literature review was conducted to collect and summarize the information about studies and applications elsewhere, and how we could possibly apply them into Finnish forest ecosystems. This thesis is done as part of Helsus Co-Creation Lab -project, where our group was tasked with looking into how biochar could enhance biodiversity in soil and accelerate transformation to low carbon economy. From this larger topic, this paper is looking into the economic side, and whether it is economically viable to use biochar to enhance and uphold biodiversity. This is evaluated by reviewing and categorizing 164 papers and conducting a literature review. My conclusions are that the current biochar applications show lower economic efficiency than other carbon dioxide abatement technologies. The stability of biochar in soil is a key factor, as the half-lives of biochars may not be as long as commonly suggested. Furthermore, competition for biomass resource use can restrict the availability of feedstock, and make it more expensive. Subsidies for biochar application are required if biochar is to be- come a significant part of the national or global climate mitigation policy. The results in different articles are quite variable and there is currently no standard approach to them. There is a need for specific research on what kind of biochar benefits what soil and vegetation, which is expensive. A primary goal is to incorporate a consistent and standardized testing or analysis method for biochar stability into the certification programs run and administered by the International and the European Biochar Initiatives. In the foreseeable future, biochar by itself is unlikely to play a significant role in climate mitigation strategies. Biochar might be just one of several alternatives in a bundle strategy to re- duce carbon emissions. However, its potential use must still be researched more.

The purpose of this study was to examine the integrated climatic impacts of forestry and the use fibre-based packaging materials. The responsible use of forest resources plays an integral role in mitigating climate change. Forests offer three generic mitigation strategies; conservation, sequestration and substitution. By conserving carbon reservoirs, increasing the carbon sequestration in the forest or substituting fossil fuel intensive materials and energy, it is possible to lower the amount of carbon in the atmosphere through the use of forest resources. The Finnish forest industry consumed some 78 million m3 of wood in 2009, while total of 2.4 million tons of different packaging materials were consumed that same year in Finland. Nearly half of the domestically consumed packaging materials were wood-based. Globally the world packaging material market is valued worth annually some €400 billion, of which the fibre-based packaging materials account for 40 %. The methodology and the theoretical framework of this study are based on a stand-level, steady-state analysis of forestry and wood yields. The forest stand data used for this study were obtained from Metla, and consisted of 14 forest stands located in Southern and Central Finland. The forest growth and wood yields were first optimized with the help of Stand Management Assistant software, and then simulated in Motti for forest carbon pools. The basic idea was to examine the climatic impacts of fibre-based packaging material production and consumption through different forest management and end-use scenarios. Economically optimal forest management practices were chosen as the baseline (1) for the study. In the alternative scenarios, the amount of fibre-based packaging material on the market decreased from the baseline. The reduced pulpwood demand (RPD) scenario (2) follows economically optimal management practices under reduced pulpwood price conditions, while the sawlog scenario (3) also changed the product mix from packaging to sawnwood products. The energy scenario (4) examines the impacts of pulpwood demand shift from packaging to energy use. The final scenario follows the silvicultural guidelines developed by the Forestry Development Centre Tapio (5). The baseline forest and forest product carbon pools and the avoided emissions from wood use were compared to those under alternative forest management regimes and end-use scenarios. The comparison of the climatic impacts between scenarios gave an insight into the sustainability of fibre-based packaging materials, and the impacts of decreased material supply and substitution. The results show that the use of wood for fibre-based packaging purposes is favorable, when considering climate change mitigation aspects of forestry and wood use. Fibre-based packaging materials efficiently displace fossil carbon emissions by substituting more energy intensive materials, and they delay biogenic carbon re-emissions to the atmosphere for several months up to years. The RPD and the sawlog scenarios both fared well in the scenario comparison. These scenarios produced relatively more sawnwood, which can displace high amounts of emissions and has high carbon storing potential due to the long lifecycle. The results indicate the possibility that win-win scenarios exist by shifting production from pulpwood to sawlogs; on some of the stands in the RPD and sawlog scenarios, both carbon pools and avoided emissions increased from the baseline simultaneously. On the opposite, the shift from packaging material to energy use caused the carbon pools and the avoided emissions to diminish from the baseline. Hence the use of virgin fibres for energy purposes, rather than forest industry feedstock biomass, should be critically judged if optional to each other. Managing the stands according to the silvicultural guidelines developed by the Forestry Development Centre Tapio provided the least climatic benefits, showing considerably lower carbon pools and avoided emissions. This seems interesting and worth noting, as the guidelines are the current basis for the forest management practices in Finland.

Climate change affects the human habitat and the mechanics that cause this scientific phenomenon are somewhat well known. This study examines how forest policy, agricultural policy and environmental policy can control the mechanisms that cause climate change. The material of the study consists of interviews of 12-13 Finnish experts, each representing one of the previously mentioned sectors. Each of the experts have been asked 13-14 questions about the importance of climate change mitigation, as well as the mechanisms by which agriculture and forests affect the climate and how climate change should be considered in environmental policy. The data was collected between October 8th and November 8th of 2019. This was in five weeks after the IPCC 1,5-degree climate report was published. A series of topics was constructed from the answers, and they are meant to be used as topics to be discussed in the Finnish 2019 parliamentary election. In addition, on how important scientific academics see the control of climate change, they were also asked how critical climate change is. The interview material is stored in the Finnish Social Science Data Archive (www.fsd.uta.fi) The experts’ answers to the importance of controlling climate change were almost unanimous and considered to be highly important. Carbon sink and storage were considered the most effective methods to control climate change. According to the results, the study proposes topics that should be discussed in politics and when a person wants to advance the control of climate change in forest, agriculture and environment politics. Political decisions are often based on value judgement, which again are based on the information of different methods efficacy. The results that are discussed in this study are not the only options, but they give guidelines and reasons for discussions related to effective choices. Forest policies should recognize the effects of forest industry to the development of carbon sink and storage. Forest industries prerequisite for operation and decision making in addition to considering employment and export industry, must also consider the effect for Finland’s net carbon emissions. Activities which lengthen the forest rotation time would have multiple positive benefits and increase forest carbon storage. Agricultural politics should broaden the discussion to reach food politics. Consumption habits have big effect on agricultural production structure and it can be directed by many ways. The structure of agricultural production should also be considered from the emission point of view, because the land use is substantially large and changes in production can affect Finland’s emission in a scale, that would have large effect on our nations net carbon emissions. To strengthen carbon sinks, landowners should have compensation mechanism methods, that increase carbon sinks, and which are combined to the size of the carbon storage. In environmental policy climate change must be paid more attention and governmental boundaries must not intervene significant decision making. The strengthening of the role of Ministry of the Environment and adding co-operation between different ministries supports the decision making regarding environmentally positive issues.

Luontoympäristöjen terveysvaikutusten hyödyntäminen voi olla yksi kustannustehokas tapa ennaltaehkäistä sairauksia ja ylläpitää työkykyä. Suomen pinta-alasta 70% on talousmetsiä ja niissä on suuri potentiaali virkistyskäyttöön. METSO-hyvinvointipolkujen tavoite on yhdistää nämä, hyvinvointivaikutukset ja talousmetsät. Samalla tarjoten matkailutoimijoille matalilla investoinneilla toimivan toiminnallisen hyvinvointipolun konseptin. Tutkimus toteutettiin syksyn 2018 aikana puolistruktuoituna teemahaastatteluna. Haastatteluun vastasi seitsemäntoista polun toteutuksessa ja suunnittelussa mukana ollutta matkailuyrittäjää tai kylätoimikunnan edustajaa. Yhteensä hankkeessa toteutettuja polkuja on 22. Haastattelututkimuksessa kartoitettiin hankkeen kokonaisvaltaista toteutumista. Tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin hankkeen toteutusta ja käyttöönottoa, ansaintaa, toimintaa sekä kehittämistarpeita. Haastatelluista kahdeksan järjestää poluilla myös opastettuja kierroksia. Polun perustaneista viisi kertoi polun tuottavan vähän lisäarvoa yritykselleen, kahdeksan vastasi sen tuovan kohtalaisesti ja kolmen mielestä polku tuo paljon lisäarvoa. Kehittämistarpeina nousi esiin yhteisen markkinoinnin tarve, yhteistyömahdollisuudet, sekä konseptin parempi mukautuminen eri paikkoihin. METSO-hyvinvointipolun konsepti tarjoaa talousmetsien, matkailun ja luonnon hyvinvointi vaikutusten yhdistämisen.

Challenges of such as biodiversity loss and unsustainable food systems are interconnected. Forests and forest fungi have important roles in the safeguarding of biodiversity. This study aimed to provide insights on mushroom cultivation opportunities alongside forestry activities using environmental expert opinions, individual forest owners’ perceptions and attitudes of mushroom picking hobbyists. Environmental experts, individual forest owners, and mushroom picking hobbyists were selected as key stakeholder for investigating the viability of mushroom cultivation alongside forestry activities. The potential of mushroom cultivation alongside forestry activities was elicited within the theoretical framework of stakeholder theory, corporate social responsibility, sustainable business, and insights from behavioral theories. The data was collected through qualitative interviews and a short survey. The analysis method for the data was thematic analysis. Six themes emerged from the data, showing practical implications that have important implications for the viability of mushroom cultivation alongside forestry activities, and touch upon environmental, economic, legal, social, educational and other practical aspects. Mushroom cultivation services could support and enhance forest biodiversity and offer additional income opportunities for forest owners. From a corporate social responsibility perspective selling mushroom cultivation services to forest owners represents an opportunity to support biodiversity of forests. Turning mushroom cultivation into sustainable business opportunity requires careful consideration of practical implications.

Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus L.) is an integral part of ecosystems across the northern boreal regions, and reindeer husbandry is an important socio-cultural factor, especially for indigenous people. Currently, reindeer husbandry in Fennoscandia is confronted with deterioration of pasture areas, and the decreasing of reindeer number has often been offered as a solution. However, in most reindeer herding districts, forestry has also strongly decreased the sustainable production capacity of winter pastures and therefore has had a significant role in pasture deterioration in addition to high reindeer numbers. The interaction between forestry and reindeer husbandry has often been studied qualitatively, ecologically, or with simple bio-economic models from the perspective of forestry. In this thesis, I use a detailed interdisciplinary ecological-economical model to study how the rotation forestry affects the economics of reindeer husbandry. The research questions are 1) how does the length of forest rotation period and 2) the management practices such as soil scarification and leaving of harvesting residues affect the economically optimal reindeer husbandry. I expand a novel ecological-economical reindeer husbandry optimization model to include the effects of forestry on the ground and arboreal lichen with an assumption of normal forest structure. The effects of forestry on the ground and arboreal lichen are based on previous literature. Modern dynamic optimization algorithms are used to solve the model for the optimal number of reindeer, annual net revenues, lichen biomass on pastures, and the level of supplementary feeding under different forest rotation lengths and management scenarios with zero and positive interest rates. The results show that the length of forest rotation period affects the economically optimal solution. When pasture rotation is used, shortening the forest rotation length decreases the optimal number of reindeer, annual income, and the lichen biomass in pastures, but increases the amount of supplementary feed given. When pasture rotation is not used, shortening the forest rotation length decreases the number of reindeer, annual net revenues, and supplementary feeding, but increases the lichen biomass. Soil scarification and harvesting residues lower the annual net revenues of reindeer husbandry by 1-15% depending on the forest rotation length and pasture rotation. The longer is the forest rotation length, the less the annual net revenues are affected by the forest management practices. Higher interest levels lead to higher reindeer numbers and a higher level of supplementary feeding, but also to lower lichen biomass and annual net revenues from reindeer husbandry. The results of this thesis support the earlier findings of negative effects of rotation forestry and short rotation lengths on reindeer husbandry, and estimations that reindeer husbandry is more resilient if pasture rotation is used. As the economical sensibility of rotation forestry in Lapland has currently been questioned, even-aged forestry could offer a solution with the best management scenarios for both parties. The results of this thesis support infinitely long forest rotation length without soil scarification. This thesis also highlights the need for interdisciplinary co-design of ecological studies to ensure that they are suitable for creating complex interdisciplinary optimization models.

The European Commission and the Finnish government have released their respective roadmaps in sustainable forest policy. With the European Commission pushing for further cooperation and integration in a field with no dedicated framework, it becomes vital to have a consensus on the concept of “sustainable forestry” with Member States such as Finland. Finland, on the other hand, as the most forested Member State in terms of percentage of total land area, manifests opposite views regarding how the administration is supposed to effect policy. This thesis consists of an analysis of respective documents from the European Commission and the Finnish government: the New EU Forest Strategy for 2030 and the Government Report on Forest Policy 2050. Similar in scope and structure, they clearly reflect these different attitudes towards policymaking and the role of policymakers themselves in the coming decades. The focus of this analysis is, however, their respective use of metaphors. With the theoretical support of the Advocacy Coalition Framework of Hank Jenkins-Smith and Paul Sabatier and the Critical Metaphor Analysis of Jonathan Charteris-Black, these metaphor choices are then observed to explain which stakeholders—either forestry, administrative, or environmental—are favored in each document. In this thesis, metaphors are words whose basic meaning, which is usually the one easiest to imagine, is not the one used in their textual context. From associating that missing, metaphorical meaning to chosen key concepts, this analysis shows that the metaphors found are used in cohesion with each other. This reveals a re-conceptualization of those key terms according to the accompanying metaphors. For example, the European Commission presented forests in its Strategy as “towns”, while the Finnish government saw them as “(ore) mines”. The results of this thesis reveal the consistency of metaphor choices in discourse and their significance in depicting a potentially different set of narratives from those contained in conventional language, both overtly and covertly. With these results in mind, scholars can further pursue research in other fields thanks understanding of metaphor and its prevalence in communication, or even expand this line of research into the role of media, for example.

Pristine mires are an important carbon storage, but after drainage, the carbon is released from the peat through aerobic decomposition. In Finland, half of the original mire area has been drained, mainly for forestry purposes. Majority (83 %) of the drained area is suitable for forestry. Out of the forestry-suited drained peatlands, the nutrient-rich forestry drained peatlands emit high amounts of CO2 due to high aerobic decomposition as nutrient-rich conditions are favourable for decomposing bacteria. Rewetting of these nutrient-rich peatlands could offer a solution for halting the CO2 emission, but the CH4 emission increases after rewetting. The studies show differing results of CH4 emission from nutrient-rich rewetted peatlands. There are studies reporting both high and low emission of CH4 from nutrient-rich peatlands, and differing studies on how the emission evolves in time. This thesis focused on three variables that could affect the CH4 emission: time from rewetting, water level and site type. There were 27 different study sites at 8 locations. These sites were rewetted 3 to 28 years prior to measurements and represented nutrient-rich tree-covered peatlands (Rhtkg, Mtkg, Ptkg). Ptkg was the least nutrient-rich site type in the study. The CH4 flux was measured with a chamber method from July to November of 2021. Water level was monitored with loggers and manual measurements. The data was analysed with linear regression and analysis of variance, depending on the independent variable. Mean CH4 fluxes were used to compare sites with each other. The results show that water level affects the CH4 emission at statistically significant level. When water level is deeper than 10cm below ground level, the CH4 emission is low. One site differed from this trend and despite the high water level, the CH4 emission was close to zero. Time from rewetting did not affect CH4 emission at statistically significant level, but there was a visible trend of older rewetted peatlands emitting less than more recently rewetted ones. This finding was contradicting to the literature as it was supposed that the more recently rewetted peatlands emit less CH4. Out of site types, the Mtkg2 and Rhtkg site types emitted most, but there was no statistical significance. When analysed with using both the water level and site type, there were statistical differences between site types. When comparing mean CH4 emissions from nutrient-rich (Rhtkg+Mtkg) and least nutrient-rich (Ptkg) peatlands at the same water level, the Ptkg sites emitted less, but not at a statistically significant level. The findings indicate that, when rewetting a nutrient-rich tree-covered peatland, it should be done so that the water-level does not rise above 10cm, but this is very difficult or impossible to regulate. Restoration process and how it develops is difficult to foresee and the end-result might differ. Research on CH4 emissions from rewetted nutrient-rich peatlands and what affects it is increasingly important as CH4 affects the climate change in the near future.

Agricultural and forest land use is critically affecting and effected by sustainability challenges both globally and in Finland. One way to aid the situation is through increasing the amount and comprehensiveness of rural land valuations. This can be done for instance by expanding the assessments of underrepresented ecosystem services with the help of participatory valuation methods. Albeit utilising existing methods for this purpose would already provide significant help, participatory valuations could be developed even further by applying virtual reality (VR) value elicitation. Although the utilisation of VR as a versatile study tool has been suggested by several authors, the studies and applications are thus far scarce, though slowly increasing. Hence, this thesis sets out to provide new insights into the implementation of VR and its unique benefits over other methods in the specific case of rural land valuations. The method employed in this paper is integrative literature review, as it gives opportunities to combine literature about other valuation methods and VR’s proven effects and reflect these on rural land valuation studies’ findings and stated future needs of this sector. Central findings demonstrate VR’s potential as a value elicitation tool in rural land valuations by virtue of its ability to offer immersive experiences and render almost any kind of environment accessible. Immersion can help in learning and subsequent value formation, consequently changing intent to behave as well as alter actual behaviour. Therefore, the use of VR can affect both stated and observable values and can affect value study results significantly. On the other hand, accessibility allows participation for all kinds of people regardless of limitations relating to knowledge level, or mental or physical capabilities. Hence, VR can grant access to significantly more people to nature areas otherwise rural, unfamiliar, hard to explore, hard or impossible to get to, or that exist in the past and in the future. In sum, by providing opportunities for increased amount and ease of participation, as well as holistic well-informed valuations, VR offers possibilities to support and drive the sustainability transition and transformation of Finnish rural land use sector. Although findings are promising, more research and practical application of VR are needed. Based on the potential of virtual reality in combination of the needs in rural land use sector, this thesis introduces some example scenarios where VR value elicitation could be used and be useful. The premises of all scenarios are rooted in existing studies, as this can help in gaining information on the applicability, as well as comparability of VR to other established value eliciting methods. This aims to enhance the robustness of VR as a study tool, as robustness can be seen as one of the weak points of VR value elicitation currently.