Browsing by department "Metsätieteiden laitos"

The aim of this study is to assess future export markets for the Finnish industrial wood construction sector. This is done by analysing secondary materials, previous studies and creating a future vision of Finnish industrial wood construction sector and particularly its exports by the year 2030. This analysis is based on qualitative individual expert interviews and a backcasting analysis using expert panel data. In addition, the study compares the current status of the forest industry exports and future assessments between Finland, Sweden and Estonia by analysing secondary materials, previous studies and expert views. The study was implemented using two different qualitative data sets. Semi-structured thematic expert interviews were collected from Finland, Sweden and Estonia. Expert interviews were used to get an in-depth understanding of the current status of the domestic industrial wood construction sector and the related export opportunities in Finland, Sweden and Estonia. A panel made up of Finnish experts were invited to create an ideal vision of the industrial wood construction sector in Finland and its exports for the year 2030. The panel gathered at a workshop, where their visions were created. In addition, pre- and post-event-questionnaires were part of the expert panel data collection, and this data was used to identify the most promising export countries/regions and the entities of exports in the industrial wood construction sector (e.g., whether to export materials, modules or construction projects). The results emphasised that concrete collaborative actions are needed as soon as possible in knowledge sharing and the industrial wood construction marketing. Based on the International market selection model (IMS), which is employed in this study and combining all the information from the workshop, interviews, literature and questionnaires have proven that the most promising future markets would be Central Europe, the UK and the Nordics by 2030. Otherwise the Finnish expert views of most promising export entities by 2030 varies between products, know-how and projects. During the research process it was realised that future markets need to take a closer look especially from the companies’ perspective. Finnish experts have varying views of the industrial wood construction export in their ideal vision for 2030. The study proved that the experts’ views were divided. Many of them desired that Finland should export more know-how and projects in 2030. Others believed that Finland should concentrate on the export of value-added materials. However, all the experts agreed that Finland should activate the local market and harmonize the regulations, which has had a positive influence on competence and know-how. In the ideal vision for 2030 Finland has improved its networks and co-operation inside the forest industry but also together with other fields. Finland has an open digital platform for knowledge sharing and the standards and regulations are more advanced. The wood construction industry is ideally in 2030 more attractive for students and experts than now, domestic market is wider and Finland has gained more experience and knowledge in the field of industrial wood construction. Finnish experts saw that the future exports markets for industrial wood construction are China, the Nordics, Germany, Russia and Central Europe. China was seen as an attractive market due to the size of the market, rising environmental awareness, wealthier middle class and increasing urbanization. However, China and other emerging countries have to be treated with caution, because they were not highlighted in the Estonian, Swedish or literature-based data analysis. Secondly, the Nordics construction culture is similar, location is nearby and the use of wood is increasing. Also, the harmonization of standards with Nordics came up in the expert data. Overall, the practise of industrial wood construction and environmental awareness are increasing in Europe, especially the countries where there are traditions in wood construction like countries in Central Europe. Swedish experts saw market potential and competitiveness in Central Europe and Eastern Europe, but the data from Sweden is limited to researchers’ opinions. The Estonian experts saw market potential in the UK, Germany and Ireland by 2030. However, the future markets for industrial wood construction needs a closer look as well as export entities, which divided the expert’s views.

The changing environment causes new needs and objectives for which new plans and strategies have to be created. The importance of the residents increases during these planning processes, and therefore utilizing different participatory methods comes more and more important. There are two parts in this research; the first part examines how the resident survey, from participatory methods, can be used in the strategical planning of the city’s forests’ use and management, and in the second part, the resident survey has been implemented to find out the opinions, wishes, and proposals of the residents concerning the city’s forests’ use and management in Vantaa. The first part of the research examines how the resident survey can be used in the achieving the objectives, what is the content that the resident survey is able to bring into the planning process, and to find out how and in which phase, or in which way, the resident survey can be used in the planning process. In this part, the qualitative methods were used, and the results are mainly based on the existing literature together with the implemented survey in the certain aspects. From the results, it is possible to find out that the resident survey may achieve very well the objectives of the municipality and the objectives relating residents’ local knowledge and possibilities to influence by certain criteria. The objectives related to the residents’ spiritual or psychological characteristics, like building the trust, are more difficult to achieve. On the other hand, the implemented resident survey cannot be used to achieve all the objectives of the international or institutional parts, like the objectives related to the Forest Act. It is possible to use the resident survey in every phase of the planning process, but according to the results of this research, it will not be able to bring all the objectives in every phase. The second part of the research was to implement the resident survey to find out the residents’ opinions, wishes, and proposals concerning the forests of Vantaa city. It enabled to gather the knowledge and the information about the meaning and the use of the forests, the acceptable forest management methods, the participatory in the forest management and planning, and the local information about the forests. Vantaa city was divided into the seven areas. The sample size was 2 100 – so 300 residents of the age 15 to 75 from each area. In total 950 answers were received with the respond rate 45 %. The results were created by using the quantitative methods. They show that the meaning of the forests for recreation and outdoor activities is remarkable; the most important characteristics are naturalness and feeling of the forest, calmness and silence, and the opportunities to outdoor activities and sport; the residents mostly use forests nearby home; and the most acceptable forest management methods cause less changes in the environment, like thinning, uneven-aged forest management, and harvesting. The participatory is quite unknown for most of the respondents, and the most of the residents think that this resident survey will not influence to the final decisions. Further studies about how the criteria, used in this research, could work with different resident surveys is needed, and if they can be used in the other phases of the planning process that have been found out in this research.

The main objective was to identify and analyze the tourism management perspective to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at the luxury Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise (FCLL) Hotel and Resort in the Banff National Park (NP). It is viable for a company to conduct responsible business operations, especially in protected areas, because of a great influence of Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations (ENGO’s) and high customer awareness of environmental issues. Definitely, large chains of luxury hotels and resorts, such as the Fairmont, are greatly dependent on their reputation and engagement with the communities’ well-being and handling the environmental issues in the area of business operations. The thesis is divided into several parts, i.e. introduction, theoretical background, methodology and previous research, results of the research, and conclusions and discussions. Undoubtedly, all of the above mentioned parts are essential in order to get a complete picture of the thesis topic and its achieved objectives. As a matter of fact, the current Master’s thesis comprises various industries with hospitality, tourism, and forestry. In order to gain the stated objectives, a deep analysis of the literature related to the topic and online sources was conducted, as well as email interviews with some representatives, i.e. certain managers, of the FCLL. Obviously, not all of the respondents were able to answer in time or to answer at all due to various reasons; however, the received replies were enough to make their contribution to the current thesis. The questions were especially designed to fit the respondents and to get a better insight into the FCLL’s business activities in the Banff NP. As the results showed, the FCLL has a good reputation due to its dedication and achievements, regardless of the plans to build a conference center and previous negative impact on the environment in the area. FCLL is trying its best to become a good “citizen” by following its CSR practices and engaging stakeholders. The FCLL’s major focus is to diminish negative impacts from its business operations in the park, i.e. on its various environmental programs, engaging not only personnel of the company, but communities and customers. These results were used as a basis of a SWOT analysis to have a clearer and visible representation of the FCLL’s current position, taking all the issues into consideration. In conclusion, this research shows that the luxury Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise Hotel and Resort in the Banff National Park has a good image and reputation due to its various environmental programs, dedication to its responsible business operations, and engagement of the involved stakeholders; therefore, it is clear the company has a great potential based on its achievements and willingness to make its positive contribution.

This thesis deals with public opinion of the decision making concerning forest policy in Finland. The data used was part of a nationwide mail survey examining the perceptions of the legitimacy of forest policy and its predictors in Finland. The data comprised of the answers to the question “What would you like to focus on in the decision making concerning forest use?”. The answers were analysed using inductive content analysis. The topics from the data were categorised under four themes: values, political decision-making, actors and practises. Based on the answers forests are regarded as multifunctional and the different value conceptions are equally respected. However, the existing value conflict between economic and ecological values was evident. The forest policy cannot be legitimised only on the basis of economic use of the forest resources. The biodiversity, nature protection and the recreational benefits of the forests must also be taken into account according the citizens. The results were analysed in the light of the goals and procedures set in the main documents of the Finnish forest policy. The aim was to compare the similarities and differences between current forest policy and citizens’ perspectives, and to find out if one can make any judgements about the acceptability and legitimacy of the forest policy. In general, citizens know what is included in forest policy decisionmaking, and the opinions are consistent with current policy. Certain forestry actions and forest owners’ decision-making power are the main points of conflict. Clear cuttings and especially the objection of them was the most essential topic in the data. This is against the prevailing forestry practises, since clear cuttings are the most used method in final felling. Citizens suggest alternative forestry practises like thinning and uneven-age management to be used in the felling of timber. According to the results concerning political decision making the main conflict arises from forest owners’ participation possibilities and the distribution of power. The procedural justice of the forest policy is not fully justified and legitimate, since citizens feel forest owners have too little decision-making power on their own forest property.

Metaani (CH4) on yksi tärkeimmästä kasvihuonekaasusta. Sen ilmastoa lämmittävä vaikutus on 100 vuoden lämmi-tyspotentiaalina 28-kertainen hiilidioksidiin verrattuna. Lisäksi metaanin määrä ilmakehässä on yli kaksinkertaistunut esiteollisen ajan alun jälkeen ja sen lähteiden tuntemisessa on puutteita. Ilmakehän metaanista suurimman osan on arveltu olevan peräisin anaerobisissa olosuhteissa tapahtuvasta metanogeneesistä. Boreaaliset metsät on mielletty CH4-nieluiksi maan hapellisessa kerroksessa tapahtuvan metaaninsitoutumisen vuoksi. Myös puut toimivat CH4-lähteinä joko helpottamalla maassa anaerobisesti syntyneen metaanin pääsyä ilmakehään tai tuottamalla sitä itse. Vaikka ensimmäiset havainnot puiden CH4-päästöistä tehtiin jo lähes 20 vuotta sitten, on vasta viimeaikainen tutkimus osoittanut että puiden CH4-päästöt voivat vaikuttaa huomattavasti metsien CH4-taseeseen. Suurimpien arvioiden mu-kaan puiden vapauttaman metaanin osuus on jopa 10–40 % globaalista CH4-budjetista. Puiden CH4-päästöjen tutki-mus on tähän asti suuntautunut enimmäkseen trooppiselle ja temperaattiselle kasvillisuusvyöhykkeelle, mutta tutki-mus boreaalisella kasvillisuusvyöhykkeellä on jäänyt vähäiseksi. Tämän pro gradu -työn tavoitteena on arvioida boreaalisella havumetsävyöhykkeellä tavanomaisesti esiintyvien kah-den puulajin, hieskoivun (Betula pubescens) ja kuusen (Picea abies), CH4-vuota ja sen vaihtelua kasvukauden alussa. Työn aineistona on käytetty 28.4.–11.6.2015 Hyytiälässä kahdella eri koealalla havaittuja puiden ja metsänpohjan CH4-voita, jotka on mitattu hieskoivujen ja kuusien rungoista ja oksista käyttäen suljettua kammiomittausmenetelmää. Koealoina olivat soistunut alue (metsäkortekorpi), jolta valittiin 4 koepuuta (2 hieskoivua, 2 kuusta) ja kivennäismaa-alue (kuivahko kangas), jolta valittiin yksi koepuu (hieskoivu). Tutkimuksissa havaittiin, että sekä hieskoivut että kuuset toimivat CH4-lähteinä rungoista ja oksista, vaikka ne myös ajoittain sitoivat metaania. Havaitut CH4-vuot olivat suuruusluokaltaan hyvin vaihtelevia. Suurimmat CH4-päästöt ha-vaittiin soistuneella kasvupaikalla kasvavien hieskoivujen rungoista, joissa runkopinta-ala kohtaiset päästöt vähenivät eksponentiaalisesti puun pituusprofiilissa tyvestä latvaa, ja rungon tyveltä mitatut suurimmat päästöt myös kasvoivat kevään edetessä. Soistuneella koealalla puiden runkojen CH4-vuo korreloi maalämpötilojen kanssa sekä positiivisesti (hieskoivut) että negatiivisesti (kuuset). Sadekertymän havaittiin korreloivan negatiivisesti koivujen runkojen vuon kanssa. Muilla taustamuuttujilla (esim. ilman lämpötila, säteily, mahlan virtausnopeus) ei ollut havaittavaa yhteyttä puiden CH4-vuohon. Korrelaatioita ei myöskään havaittu kivennäismaakohteella olleen hieskoivun keskiarvoisten CH4-voiden ja taustamuuttujien välillä. Puiden CH4-vuosta tehtiin yleistys metsikkötasolle, mikä osoitti kuusien päästö-jen (6,15 g ha−1 vrk−1) olevan suurempia kuin hieskoivujen päästöt (5,82 g ha−1 vrk−1) johtuen kuusien oksiin sitoutu-neesta suuremmasta biomassan määrästä verrattuna hieskoivuihin. Tästä syystä kuuset voivat olla merkittävämpiä metaanin vapauttajia kuin hieskoivut. Työn tulokset vahvistavat aiempien tutkimusten havainnot puiden CH4-päästöistä ja osoittavat että myös boreaalisen kasvillisuusvyöhykkeen puilla voi olla merkittävä rooli globaalissa CH4-budjetissa, jossa puiden CH4-vuota ei ole tähän asti lainkaan huomioitu. Hieskoivujen ja kuusien erilainen vaste kasvukauden alkuun, maalämpötilaan ja sateisuuteen viittaa puulajien välisiin eroihin CH4-vuota säätelevissä tekijöissä tai metaanin kuljetukseen liittyvässä fysiologiassa.

The popularity of wooden multi-storey construction (WMC) has increased in Finland during the recent years. Reasons for this could be the favorable changes in the legislation, the action plans of government agencies endorsing the WMC, and the developing business models of the construction industry. The business ecosystem (BE) concept has become a topical research subject and recent research suggests that the BE concept could be a useful tool in analyzing the value creation in the construction industry. This qualitative case study examined the applicability of the BE concept for the field of wood construc-tion. Semi-structured interviews were used to elicit the experiences of people involved in a specific wood construction project and thematization was used in the analysis of the data. The case construction project was a two-storey wooden loft. The aims of this thesis included the exploration of the functioning of the case BE, and identifying the roles of the BE participants, the benefits of belonging in a BE, and the key factors for the success of the BE. The study also aimed in examining the end-user involvement and the innovation detection and communication in the case BE. The interviews revealed that the core companies of the case construction project have cooperated for years before the case project took place. Some coevolutive efforts were revealed between some of the project participants, such as attempts to cut the turnaround time of the projects by focusing on process enhancements, and addressing to varying service demands by offering the services of a partner company among own services. The results suggest that a BE exists around the main contractor, which also acts as a keystone player, leading the BE. The other core companies act as niche players, bringing specialized expertise and skills that complement the inputs of others. According to the interviewees, the co-opera-tion and the construction project created benefits, such as reference value and value for the research and development. The interviewees also thought the familiarity of the project participants creates trust, and leads to better understanding of the working habits of the other participants, and thus increasing project efficiency. In addition, well-functioning communication and cooperation, and the high quality of plan-ning were seen as some of the essential factors for the success of the construction project. The residents were involved in the project only after the construction had already started, but they could nevertheless affect interior materials and could make change requests. The building project itself was perceived as relatively traditional one by the interviewees, although some innovativeness was identified in the pro-cesses and components of the project. In the future, business ecosystems in the WMC could be studied further, for example, by also examining larger scale WMC projects.

Canopy gaps and their characteristic features (e.g. area and shape) influence the availability of nutrients, moisture and light in a forest ecosystem, and consequently affect the regeneration process and species composition in the forest. Most of the earlier research on canopy gap used field measurement and conventional remote sensing to quantify gap and these methods have limitations and accuracy problems. However, the development in Light Detecting and Ranging (LiDAR) technology has been effective in overcoming limitations and challenges associated with conventional remote sensing. The ability of LiDAR to represent the three-dimensional structure of the canopies and the sub-canopy resulting in high-resolution topographic maps, highly accurate estimated of vegetation height, cover and canopy structure makes it suitable technology for gap studies. LiDAR-based digital surface model (DSM) and digital elevation model (DEM) were used to quantify the canopy gaps over 5124ha of University of Tokyo Chichibu Forests (UTCF) consisting of three forest-types; primary, secondary and plantation forest. Disturbance driven canopy gaps might have spatial and characteristic variation due to differences in disturbance history, nature, frequency and intensity in different forest and land-types. Quantifying gap characteristics and studying variation and size distribution in different forest types and topography help to understand the different gap dynamics and their ecological perspectives. In this study, a gap was defined as an opening with a maximum height of 2m and minimum area threshold of 10m2. The minimum area threshold, which represents the gap area created by the death of at least a single tree, was determined through a random sampling of 100 tree crowns at UTCF using high resolution aerial photographs. Gap size distribution was analyzed in different forest types and land types. Spatial autocorrelation of gap occurrence was studied using semivariance analysis and distance to the nearest gap (DNG), which is the distance to the nearest gap for an individual gap. Canopy gap size frequency distribution in different forest-types was investigated using power-law. The negative exponent (α), which is also the scaling component of the power-law distribution, was compared between forest-types. Altogether, 6179 gaps with area 10-11603 m2 were found. Gap size distribution in UTCF showed skewness with a high frequency of smaller gaps and a few large gaps. Half of the gaps were smaller than 19 m2 and less than one percent of gaps (0.73 %) were larger than 400 m2. Primary forest contained high gap density (1.85 gaps per ha), shortest mean-DNG (22m) and second-largest gap-area fraction (0.72 %) after plantation forest area (0.76 %). Secondary forest had the lowest gap density (1.03 gaps per hectare) but had the larger mean gap-area (43 m2) than in primary forest (39 m2). The Kolmogorov–Smirnov test showed differences (p<0.05) in gap size distribution between primary and secondary forest. However, the gap size distribution in primary forest show similarity (p=0.59) with plantation forest area. In primary and plantation forest there was a high frequency of small gaps and few very large gaps (2000-10500 m2), whereas very large gaps (>2400 m2) were absent in the secondary forest. Gap size frequency distribution followed a power-law distribution only in plantation forest area (p>0.1, α =2.27). The scaling parameter in the primary and secondary forest was 2.56 (p=0.01) and 2.20 (p=0.02), respectively. Gap distribution showed some spatial autocorrelation in primary and secondary forest at least with distance up to 1300m. Most of the gaps in the primary forest were concentrated in the valley and middle slope, whereas the upper and middle slope had fewest gaps.

The most extensive dry forest and woodland formation in sub-Saharan Africa, including Mozambique, is formed by miombo woodlands. Because of their wide distribution, the miombo woodlands carry significance in global carbon cycle. Previous studies have indicated that while the miombo aboveground carbon stocks appear modest in comparison with tropical rainforests, they have a potential to retain high stocks of soil organic carbon. The miombo landscape is nowadays characterized by widespread deforestation and forest degradation, with woodlands being replaced by anthropogenic land uses such as small-scale agriculture and charcoal harvesting. A new land use type spreading in northern Mozambique is formed by industrial forest plantations. The emerging plantations further change the landscape in transition, allegedly affecting the carbon stocks in the process as well. The purpose of this study was to quantify carbon stocks on locally relevant land use classes in Niassa province, northern Mozambique, and evaluate the change of carbon stocks caused by forest plantations. Six major land use classes were identified: dense miombo, open miombo, other woody vegetation, fallow land, eucalypt plantations and pine plantations. A sample plot grid was laid on chosen areas representing each of the classes. Vegetation aboveground carbon stocks (trees, shrubs and herbaceous vegetation) were recorded in the inventory and topsoil (30 cm) was sampled for soil organic carbon content, to be determined in laboratory. Vegetation belowground carbon stocks were calculated based on existing root to shoot ratios. Since plantations were generally juvenile on the study area, their average yield during rotation period was estimated based on growth models to provide comparable results. Forest plantations were found to have carbon stocks of the same order of magnitude as the two miombo land use classes. Open and dense miombo carried mean vegetation aboveground carbon stocks of 27.47 ± 5.77 and 37.65 ± 7.20 Mg ha-1 respectively, and mean total carbon stocks of 67.81 ± 17.09 and 86.81 ± 18.91 Mg ha-1 respectively, which was consistent with pre-existing results. Pine plantations placed in between with a partially modelled total aboveground mean carbon stock of 34.59 Mg ha-1, whereas the corresponding figure for eucalypt plantations was 21.04 Mg ha-1. Dense miombo had the highest mean total carbon stock of all the land use classes, and fallow land the smallest with 42.59 Mg ha-1. Soil organic carbon did not demonstrate statistically significant differences between any of the land use classes. The result was unexpected, and may be explained either by (i) limited time frame since the land use conversions or (ii) soil mineralogical properties buffering carbon stock changes.

Forest biomass is considered as one of the most important alternative energy sources across the globe. Growing attention has been given to the studies concerning biomass and related bioenergy and biofuel, and their potential for future development. This study takes higher education as unique aspect, focusing on the awareness of Chinese university students of Forest Based Bioenergy (FBB) development and how education background / awareness may influence the FBB development in China. Since FBB is relatively a new concept in China, its development and further utilization are believed to largely relay on the matters of education, social trend and awareness. Students in higher education are considered as a special group: they may be educated related to FBB and will become the future consumers and even decision-makers. This make awareness, attitude and opinions about FBB from the students` point of view significant. A literature review was made for the background study and quantitative research, plus surveys and interviews were conducted as data collection methods. Objectives of the thesis are to study the awareness of and attitudes towards FBB among Chinese university students and if those opinions were influenced by their studies. Results indicate that education strongly affects students´ attitudes. FBB development is seen as a positive signal and students are likely to support FBB development. FBB is believed as a new trend of renewable energy development. However, FBB in China will not see a rapid booming in the near future and it has only limited impact towards the traditional fossil fuel domination, but due to its characteristics, governmental recognition and growing awareness, it certainly shall be seen as strong supporter of China´s sustainable development. It also has to be holistically utilized considering environmental, social and economic aspects, to reach its full potential and to support China´s target of sustainable energy development.

The aim of the study was to investigate cornerstones of a communications strategy for a start-up specializing to wood-based packaging materials. These include packaging materials, which are produced in a sustainable way and decrease environmental load with their biodegradability. These cornerstones are basis for a globally profitable and competitive business. Literature review and qualitative interviews were used as a method. The circular economy business model enables a new way to operate and generate competitive advantage for a start-up. The plastics industry claims biodegradability of some forms; the communication challenge of the competitors is to prove these arguments false. Launching world-wide renewable wood-based packaging material to consumers and to packaging industry requires co-operation between all stakeholders. To be a true alternative to plastics, the product must be based on sustainability principles, recyclability and compostability. To avoid greenwashing, all communication must be based on reliable and verifiable information. The developed communications strategy addresses all the aforementioned challenges. The communications strategy focuses on younger generation consumers and rely on their ability to utilize social media in their communications. A circular economy start-up company must outperform plastics packaging manufacturers economically, environmentally and socially with sustainable packaging solutions. Nevertheless, based on this thesis, sustainability is a valid selling and communications argument. The interviews conducted by this thesis support this finding.