Browsing by Subject "metsä"
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(2020)In this paper, I examine the discussions around the concept of carbon sinks. From those discussion of Finnish forestry, I identify frames based on a media material of 108 news articles combining the methodologies of frame analysis and content analysis. I aim to contextualize the carbon sink discussions of the latter half of 2010s and examine how the natural science-based term is used to support varying policy agendas. Building from background literature on the media as a societal actor and a context around Finnish forest discussions and mismatches between science and forest policy, I reflect on the ways that Finnish media frames and contextualizes carbon sink-related forest discussions. Eventually, I identify three dominant and eight secondary frames that describe the ways of using and the transforming of carbon sink as a term in detail. The dominant frames divide the discussion into two clashing ways to communicate carbon sink issues and a third middle ground way of understanding and using the term. The middle ground frame identifies the conflict between the clashing frames and suggests reaching to an understanding as a priority goal in terms of optimal climate change policy. I discuss the results in terms of the frames' policy implications. In addition, I ask how they signal potential developments in forest and climate policy and discourse. The analysis shows that the clearest disagreements in the carbon sink conflicts raise from how forestry restricting policies are seen to affect carbon sink levels and how prominent a role should forest industry have in meeting national and international climate policy targets. The study confirms that carbon sink as a term transforms into altering forms to support distinct, even controversial policy goals because of both definitional and calculative uncertainties.
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(2020)In the years 2017-2019 there was quite vivid discussion about the level of logging in Finland. Finland, as forested country, had put high hopes of bioeconomy as a strategyline for future. In addition the demand of cellulose and other woodproducts had been on rising track and there was plans to build numereous pulp- and bioproduct plants in Finland. Hence the pressure to increase the level of logging had been risen. In the meantime European union tried to achieve more ambitious climatepolicy and conceived a new LULUCF (land use, land-use change and forestry)-act, which allows to take into acount carbon sinks of forests in each of the member country. Aspiration to increase logging and mitigate climate change and preserve forestnature did not go together very well. As a method in this study theory-based content analysis is used, in which thoughts of economic historian Karl Polanyi of self-regulated markets, fictitious commodities and double movement is applied. According to Polanyi self-regulated markets wake protective counter movements in society. These counter reactions are spontanious and they can emerge from various parts of society. They softened the hit caused to people and nature by markets. Polanyi called this mechanism doudle movement. The material contains mediasources such as articles from Helsingin Sanomat and Yleisradio and also public documents of the state. According to this study the markets determinate the use of forests and the level of logging in Finland. Public policy doesn’t want to compromise the strong export industry and employer such as forestry. The use of forest is organized by the rules of markets and tree is now used as a commodity as a timber, even if nature is not originally produced to sale. Finnish forestry is a small part of growth demanding global capitalist system. As counter movements in this case appear environmental organizations, scientists, journalists, politics and citizens. Those groups were worried about carbon sinks and biodiversity of forests. Also European unoion acted as counter movement, when it demanded reduction of emissions of other sectors like housing and transport if carbon sinks of forests decrease. All in all the power of counter movements wasn’t high enough to change the direction of forestry in Finland, which is over the years embedded in finnish society. A potential conflict can still emerge, when traditional nature based industry navigates in the field of international commerce, which resemble Polanyi’s selfregulated markets. There was clear evidence of counter movements and they got more value from the discussion of climate change and the overall greening of society. On the other hand also lumber industry could present them as green, because they use renewable resources, which also replace fossil fuels. The larger impact on the level of logging is system-based pendulumus counter movement, like depression, which swing the world economy.
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