Browsing by Author "Väisänen, Janne"

Reducing global carbon dioxide emissions is one of the main targets in the fight against climate change. Forests are important carbon pools and the arid regions of the world hold a great carbon sequestration potential. Dryland afforestation could play a considerable part in climate change mitigation. The aim of this study is to understand plantation forestry and the costs of afforestation work in arid and semi-arid regions. The main objective of the study is to estimate the establishment costs of 5.000-hectare irrigated forest plantation in Morocco, planned by the Finnish energy company St1. The plantation establishment costs are consisted of labor factors, such as preparing and mapping the cultivated area, fencing, seedling production, tillage, planting and aftercare, and other maintenance operation. The irrigation cost consist of developing the irrigation system, operation and maintenance costs and the price of desalinated seawater used in the plantation. The research timeframe was set to be from 0 to 5 years, assuming that this period covers the major cost factors of the plantation establishment. According to the results, the total establishment cost of the St1’s 5.000-hectare forest plantation, planned in Morocco, is estimated to be approximately EUR39 million and the cost per hectare around EUR7800. The total cost of cultivation is estimated to be about EUR18 million and the total cost of irrigation in the first four years are around EUR21 million.