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Estimating forest biomass supply from private forest owners: A case study from Southern Germany
Abstract
In this article we developed a method to estimate forest biomass availability in a situation with small-scale privately owned forests and applied it to three administrative districts in Southern Germany where the majority of owners is organised in forest owners associations. Based on gross annual increment of regional forest resources we calculated a theoretical potential of above-ground biomass from which we subtracted technical and ecological constraints, e.g. restrictions resulting from conservation needs or nutrient removal. The resulting figure was the bio-technical potential of forest biomass. We then assessed the socio-economic potential of forest biomass by considering recent timber felling rates and log grading of owners. In order to determine market potential we differentiated between self-consumption and marketed timber. We compared the calculated potential and timber utilisation patterns of forest owners, deriving the additional supply potential of forest biomass. Most of the data were obtained by a stratified random interview of 226 private forest owners organised in forest owners associations. Although observed harvest intensity was high there was still a considerable potential for increased use of forest biomass. However, willingness of owners to intensify timber harvesting and to supply fuel wood on the basis of long-term contracts is a restriction to additional mobilisation of wood.
... In response to the fact that the importance of bioenergy has been growing over the last decades, a number of studies were conducted primarily in Europe (e.g. Bohlin and Roos 2002, Brough et al. 2013, Halder et al. 2014, Rämö et al. 2009, Wilnhammer et al. 2012 and North America (e.g. Becker et al.2013,Guoetal.2013,Guoetal.2007,Joshietal.2013, ...
... During the last 10 years they have harvested on average 142.5 m 3 in Croatia, 180.0 m 3 in Serbia and 76.0 m 3 in BH. The only impeding factor for additional utilization is property size in the analyzed countries, as previous researchesshowedthattheimportanceoffirewoodand 6 These management objectives were selected based on the fact that they are the top three in the analyzed countries self-consumption rise with decreasing forest property size (Blennow et al. 2014, Wilnhammer et al. 2012, which means that the supply of woody biomass for energy is related to self-consumption among PFOs of small properties. Although the majority of PFOs used theirforestsforproducingfirewoodtomeettheirown needs (Fig. 1) -89.7% in Serbia, 85.0% in BH and 91.2% in Croatia, some PFOs have their economic interest as therearePFOswhoproducefirewoodandtechnical wood for sale. ...
... high readiness to produce additional quantities of woody biomass was unexpected. Even though privateforestsarepredominantlyusedfordomesticfirewood production (Glück et al. 2011), supporting woody biomass for market can increase production and generate more income to PFOs especially in rural areas (Hetemäki et al. 2014, Wilnhammer et al. 2012. The fact that the share of PFOs, who are prepared to produce additional quantities of woody biomass, was relatively high indicates that it is possible to increase the woody biomass production and that target-oriented forest policy instruments should be created taking these facts into consideration. ...
Private forests in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia are highly fragmented into
small plots of land with low productivity level and a large number of owners. Nevertheless, they are recognized in the strategic plans and programs concerning renewable energy as having a significant potential for woody biomass production. A regional research was conducted among 350 private forest owners in each of the three South-East European countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia. It analyzed management activities and readiness of private forest owners to produce additional quantities of woody biomass. Smart regulation principles were selected as analytical framework in order to understand how the design of forest policy instruments, based on specific characteristics of the target groups, can contribute to the improvement of private forest owners’ readiness to mobilize additional quantities of woody biomass from their forests. The results of this research indicated that although the majority of private forest owners use their forests for producing firewood to meet their own needs – 91.2% of private forest owners in Croatia, 85.0% in Bosnia and Herzegovina and 89.7% in Serbia, there is economic interest of private forest owners to produce additional quantities of woody biomass beyond their own fuelwood household consumption – 43.9% in
Croatia, 45.8% in Bosnia and Herzegovina and 54.8% in Serbia. Moreover, private forest
owners’ socio-demographic characteristics, forest property characteristics and management objectives significantly impacted the owners’ readiness to produce additional quantities of woody biomass. The readiness for woody biomass mobilization could be increased by providing different policy instruments, since this is deemed important by private forest owners. Hence, forest policy recommendations were proposed that may support the private forest owners’ readiness to produce additional quantities of woody biomass.
... Scenario 2 is based on a study carried out for Bavaria by Wilnhammer et al. (2012). The study comes to the conclusion that based on data from 2006 to 2008, approximately 1.1 m 3 ha À1 * a À1 of fuel wood can, in addition to the baseline conditions, be sourced from small scale private forest owners in the state. ...
... The study comes to the conclusion that based on data from 2006 to 2008, approximately 1.1 m 3 ha À1 * a À1 of fuel wood can, in addition to the baseline conditions, be sourced from small scale private forest owners in the state. The threshold for the size of privately owned forest to qualify for this additionally potential was set to a maximum of 100 ha, which amounts in approximately 1.1 M ha in total (Wilnhammer et al., 2012). The threshold of 100 ha was chosen, since privately owned forests above this size are likely to be professionally managed and therefore, mobilization potentials are deemed lower. ...
... Without the possible reductions of PM through German regulations (BMU, 2010), the rise in PM emissions is also consistent with the findings of Weber-Blaschke et al. (2015) and Wilnhammer et al. (2015). Scenario S2 e wood mobilization from private forests, represents the scientific approach to the determination of solid biofuels potentials in the state based on Wilnhammer et al. (2012), where energy wood mobilization potential from private forests were assessed. Results for this scenario are very similar to S1 while being more conservative in the estimation of available solid biofuels. ...
Solid Biofuels, i.e. wood, play an important role in present and future national and global climate change mitigation policies. Wood energy, while displaying favorable properties for the mitigation of climate change also exhibits several drawbacks, such as potentially high emission of particulate matter. To assess the environmental effects of shifts in the heating mix, emission factors of the comprising energy carriers and the Bavarian heating mix were determined. Through the application of regionalized substitution percentiles the environmental effects caused by shifts in the amount of final energy provided by solid biofuels could be identified. For this purpose, four scenarios, based on political and scientific specifications were assessed. In 2011 a total amount of 663.715 TJ of final energy was used for the provision of heat in Bavaria, with solid biofuels exhibiting the third largest share of 12.6% (83% of renewable heat). Environmental effects were evaluated through life cycle assessments assessing the impact categories of Global Warming (GW), Particulate Matter emissions (PM), Freshwater Eutrophication (ET) and Acidification (AC). Additionally, the non-renewable primary energy consumption (PE) was analyzed. The heating mix in Bavaria (Baseline) causes emissions of 49.6 Mt CO2-eq. * yr(-1)(GW), 14.555 t of PM2.5-eq. * yr(-1) (PM), 873.4 t P-eq. * yr(-1) (ET), and 82.299 kmol H(+) eq. * yr(-1) (AC), for which 721,745 TJ of primary energy were expended. Current policies entail a GHG reduction potential of approximately 1 Mt CO2-eq. * yr(-1) while increasing the amount of energy wood by 15%. The maximum, hypothetical share of solid biofuels of the heating mix cannot surpass 25%, while the climate change mitigation performance of the current use of solid biofuels is approximately 6.4 Mt CO2-eq. * yr(-1). GHG-emissions would be 13% higher and PM emissions 77% lower without this energetic use of wood. Furthermore, our calculations allow for new specified displacement factors through energy substitution, based on the current wood energy mix for regionalized conditions.
... Despite considerable research investigating decision making at the organizational level (Bauer et al., 2013), very little has been published in marketing literature on how decisions are actually made in general (Wierenga et al., 1999) and in the forest biomass market in particular (Halaj and Brodrechtova, 2014). Most existing studies focus on decisions associated with a particular marketing tool, such as, availability of forest biomass (Ilavský and T et al., 2011;Trømborg et al., 2011;Verkerk et al., 2011;Wilnhammer et al., 2012;Sacchelli et al., 2013;Lundmark et al., 2015;Lourinho and Brito, 2015), estimation of harvesting costs (Sikkema et al., 2014;Yemshanov et al., 2014), assessment of forest biomass prices (Hillring, 2006;Heinimö and Junginger, 2009;Lundmark, 2010;Schwarzbauer et al., 2013;Kristöfel et al., 2014), or optimization of the supply chain (Shabani et al., 2013;Windisch et al., 2013). ...
... Despite considerable research investigating decision making at the organizational level (Bauer et al., 2013), very little has been published in marketing literature on how decisions are actually made in general (Wierenga et al., 1999) and in the forest biomass market in particular (Halaj and Brodrechtova, 2014). Most existing studies focus on decisions associated with a particular marketing tool, such as, availability of forest biomass (Ilavský and T et al., 2011;Trømborg et al., 2011;Verkerk et al., 2011;Wilnhammer et al., 2012;Sacchelli et al., 2013;Lundmark et al., 2015;Lourinho and Brito, 2015), estimation of harvesting costs (Sikkema et al., 2014;Yemshanov et al., 2014), assessment of forest biomass prices (Hillring, 2006;Heinimö and Junginger, 2009;Lundmark, 2010;Schwarzbauer et al., 2013;Kristöfel et al., 2014), or optimization of the supply chain (Shabani et al., 2013;Windisch et al., 2013). ...
... In addition, the use of different bioenergy fuels is affected by different cultural, economic, environmental and social aspects (Qu et al., 2012). The development of the production and use of forest biomass is influenced by a set of external factors, among which researchers highlight the role of education and awareness (Aguilar et al., 2013;Gruchy et al., 2012;Qu et al., 2010), market influences (Joshi and Mehmood, 2011;Schwarzbauer and Stern, 2010), rural economic development (Ollikainen, 2014;Stidham and Simon-Brown, 2011), competing energy prices (Aguilar, 2014), and forest owner willingness to provide forest biomass (Wilnhammer et al., 2012). Basically, it is possible to conclude that the external factors driving bioenergy development comprise ecological, social and economic aspects of local, national and global importance. ...
... Nevertheless, small forest owners might not be interested in economics in the first place, instead focusing their attention on providing other forest functions and services (e.g. recreation, ecology, security of investments), as shown in the study by Wilnhammer et al. (2012). In that case, the demand for an efficient market would be probably replaced with a demand for broader knowledge and education. ...
... First, scientific literature on the use of the marketing tools by actors (producers and purchasers) on the forest biomass market is surprisingly very rare. Several scientific papers were published focusing on the potential availability or supply and demand of forest biomass [6,24,26,33,35,36,48,49,54], supply chain [38,55], harvesting costs [40,51], contribution of forest biomass to EU RES targets and policy [17,27,28,33,47], and trade with forest biomass [14,25,15,20,37]. Second, the marketing decision-making process of both type of actors on the specific forest biomass market was still not described and compared. ...
... The geographical focus of many studies about forest biomass market or forest biomass for production of renewable energy lies naturally in those countries with ample areas of forests coupled with a well-developed research society. Thus, the dominance of Scandinavian [14,15,17,25,26,28,36,40,42,47,55] and German [54,55] or Austrian [20,37] studies is not surprising. Several studies come also from South European countries like Portugal [24], Italy [35] and also from North America [51]. ...
The research project's focus had been on qualitative assessment of marketing decision-making of various actors within the European forest biomass market. The decision-making concerning marketing tools had been analyzed from producers' and purchasers' view. Specifically, Slovakia had been compared to the top users of forest biomass, specifically of forest chips in the EU: Austria and Finland. Within exploratory case study design, in each country three various actors were selected and personally interviewed: heating plan, contractor and forest enterprise. With help of MAXqda software all interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Regardless of country background or actors' experience, only few differences in marketing decisions making concerning forest biomass among Slovakia, Austria and Finland had been isolated. Being precisely, the main variations in producer's decisions had concerned price, place and physical evidence. In contrast, product, promotion, people and process decisions were similar by all producers. On the other hand, by purchasers no major differences were identified.
... First, scientific literature on the use of the marketing tools by actors (producers and purchasers) on the forest biomass market is surprisingly very rare. Several scientific papers were published focusing on the potential availability or supply and demand of forest biomass [6,24,26,33,35,36,48,49,54], supply chain [38,55], harvesting costs [40,51], contribution of forest biomass to EU RES targets and policy [17,27,28,33,47], and trade with forest biomass [14,25,15,20,37]. Second, the marketing decision-making process of both type of actors on the specific forest biomass market was still not described and compared. ...
... The geographical focus of many studies about forest biomass market or forest biomass for production of renewable energy lies naturally in those countries with ample areas of forests coupled with a well-developed research society. Thus, the dominance of Scandinavian [14,15,17,25,26,28,36,40,42,47,55] and German [54,55] or Austrian [20,37] studies is not surprising. Several studies come also from South European countries like Portugal [24], Italy [35] and also from North America [51]. ...
The research project’s focus had been on qualitative assessment of marketing decision-making of various actors within the European forest biomass market. The decision-making concerning marketing tools had been analyzed from producers’ and purchasers’ view. Specifically, Slovakia had been compared to the top users of forest biomass, specifically of forest chips in the EU: Austria and Finland. Within exploratory case study design, in each country three various actors were selected and personally interviewed: heating plan, contractor and forest enterprise. With help of MAXqda software all interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Regardless of country background or actors’ experience, only few differences in marketing decisions making concerning forest biomass among Slovakia, Austria and Finland had been isolated. Being precisely, the main variations in producer’s decisions had concerned price, place and physical evidence. In contrast, product, promotion, people and process decisions were similar by all producers. On the other hand, by purchasers no major differences were identified. (ISBN 978-88-89407-516)
... The resource potentials are determined in the example regions, in particular for the farmer with rural forest ownership, by comparing the wood supply (wood species, quantities, assortments), and the previous raw material use with the current raw material/wood use and the wood demand for future construction with wood of the example farms. Data sources are the Federal Forest Inventory (BWI), state statistics, data collections for the small private forest in adherence to the methodology of Wilnhammer et al. [4], as well as queries for realized and planned agricultural buildings (categorization), raw material use of selected building categories (wood species, building materials, components, quantities, costs), and implementation of timber construction (raw material, building material origin, implementing wood processing and timber construction companies). With regard to the analysis of the value chains for agricultural construction, the actors of the value chain used so far as well as the material flows are first determined and interviews are conducted with regard to success factors and obstacles. ...
... Although this biomass calculation method is simple, it requires huge workloads for investigation, consumes large amounts of time and energy, and is relatively expensive. Therefore, this method is only appropriate for small-scale research [23]. ...
We investigated the effects of thinning intensity on the carbon allocation of Cunninghamia lanceolata Lamb. Hook by analyzing the stand growth and carbon content of a plantation under three thinning intensities (I: 70%; II: 50%; III: 30%) and with no thinning treatment. Using the carbon balance framework of the CROwn BASe (CROBAS) model and multi-source inventory data, we calibrated the parameters of the CROBAS-C. lanceolata (CROBAS-CL) model to simulate the carbon content in the plantation. We validated the CROBAS-CL model by comparing the predicted stand diameter at breast height (DBH) and stand height (H) with the measured values. Finally, the predicted stand carbon was compared with the soil carbon to assess the dynamics and allocation of ecosystem
carbon content. Overall, our findings suggest that the predicted stand carbon of CROBAS-CL satisfies the statistical test requirements: the deviation of height and DBH predicted by the CROBAS-CL model from the measured height and DBH are less than 0.087 m and 0.165 cm, respectively. These results confirm that the model is useful for a dynamic prediction of stand carbon in C. lanceolata
plantations. Based on the results of the proposed model, we determine that Thinning III (30% thinning intensity) is beneficial for the growth of C. lanceolata plantations and improving soil carbon sequestration. Additionally, the simulated carbon storage of an individual tree in the C. lanceolata plantation gradually increased with the tree age. Our study provides a strong reference for the efficient operation and management of C. lanceolata plantations in southwestern China.
... AGB accumulation in the earth can be increased through expanding plantation areas such as private forests. Private forests have a potential to store AGB reaching a capacity of up to 300 tons/ha [19]. The number of private forests in Indonesia is likely to increase annually in accordance with the ambition of the government to expand social forestry areas at 12.7 million ha by 2019 [20]. ...
... AGB accumulation in the earth can be increased through expanding plantation areas such as private forests. Private forests have a potential to store AGB reaching a capacity of up to 300 tons/ha [19]. The number of private forests in Indonesia is likely to increase annually in accordance with the ambition of the government to expand social forestry areas at 12.7 million ha by 2019 [20]. ...
Private forests have a crucial role in maintaining the functioning of the Indonesian forest ecosystem especially because of the continuous degradation of natural forests. Private forests are a part of social forestry which becomes a tool for the Indonesian government to reduce carbon dioxide (CO 2) emission by 26% by 2030. The United Nations Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation has encouraged the Indonesian government to establish a forest monitoring system by estimating forest carbon stock using a combination of forest inventory and remote sensing. This study is aimed at assessing the potential of vegetation indices derived from Sentinel-2 for estimating aboveground biomass (AGB) of private forests. We used 45 sample plots and 7 vegetation indices to evaluate the ability of Sentinel-2 in estimating AGB on private forests. Normalised difference index (NDI) 45 exhibited a strong correlation with AGB compared to other indices (r = 0.89; R 2 = 0.79). Stepwise linear regression fitted for establishing the model between field AGB and vegetation indices (R 2 = 0.81). We also found that AGB in the study area based on spatial analysis was 72.54 Mg/ha. A root mean square error (RMSE) value from predicted and observed AGB was 27 Mg/ha. The AGB value in the study area is higher than the AGB value from some of forest types, and it indicates that private forests are good for biomass storage. Overall, vegetation indices from Sentinel-2 multispectral imagery can provide a good result in terms of reporting the AGB on private forests.
... franchir le pas. Dans ce cas, il leur importe peu de savoir si ces arbres seront utilis?s comme BE ou BI d?s lors que leurs prix respectifs s'alignent : (Wilnhammer et al., 2012). Et par rapport ? ...
La biomasse ligneuse est aujourd’hui la première source d’énergie renouvelable en France et les projections à son sujet sont très ambitieuses. Mais les motivations des propriétaires forestiers à alimenter la filière bois énergie sont rarement étudiées. Une série d’enquêtes qualitative et quantitative menées auprès de propriétaires forestiers des Landes de Gascogne a permis de préciser leur niveau d’engagement et de mieux connaître les freins et les leviers à l’approvisionnement de cette filière. Les auteurs montrent ainsi que les propriétaires forestiers s’interrogent sur la rentabilité de cette filière et sa pérennité à long terme mais qu’ils perçoivent aussi le bois énergie comme une opportunité de valoriser les sous-produits de l’activité sylvicole, et de dégager un revenu complémentaire.
... Cc, average collection cost; Ct, average transport cost; TC, average total cost. In this work, the radius of 50 km stands out for having a higher production of residues at a lower cost than with a 85 km radius, which makes it an ideal radius to ensure the availability of the raw material in accordance to plant size within the CCB, and the conditions of small-scale privately owned forests, which are major conditioning factors in determining the 50 km radius together with logistical reasons [45,46]. ...
The socio-economic crisis of the past few years has led to a progressive and marked decline in the production of coal power plants in Europe. This situation affects the regions where coal is the main traditional energy source. Energy from forests is considered to be a good alternative to coal. The exploitation of forest biomass in these regions could counteract the negative effects posed by the marked decline in traditional coal mining activities. Given the abundance of forest in Asturias, Spaińs main coal mining area, the present work was conducted on the Central Coal Basin (CCB). This study focuses on the territory of the mining areas within the CCB, known as municipalities. The main goal was to evaluate the existing biomass resources in order to assess its sustainable energy potential and its replicability in other coal mining regions in Europe. The multiscale methodology used considers a combination of mass, energy and costs of the biomass available, to estimate the bioenergy obtainable and the assessment of the techno-economic feasibility of solid biofuel production as a source of alternative energy. A detailed evaluation of forest residues was carried out including the economic and environmental constraints. The average collection efficiency was 43.0% resulting in an estimated biomass total cost of 84.10 €/dry t. Finally, the conclusion was made to locate the Biomass Logistic Centre (BLC) in Oviedo due to its favourable technical, economical and geographical characteristics. The proposed BLC would have a production capacity of 17 dry kt/year of pellets, 8 dry kt/year of wood chips and 3 dry kt/year of briquettes, of which 40% (31 dry kt/year) would be collected within a 50 km radius. Such production would avoid 51 kt/year of CO2 emissions.
... As stands become over-stocked with lower quality and small diameter wood, high value species are starved of nutrients and sunlight. In this context, local woodlot owners grow increasingly concerned about the long-term viability of their operations and are eager to selectively remove this wood [48][49][50]. In contrast to most regions of Canada, these resources are largely privately owned, with only 20% of forest owned by the Crown (public). ...
Local bioenergy will play a crucial role in national and regional sustainable energy strategies. Effective siting and feedstock procurement strategies are critical to the development and implementation of bioenergy systems. This paper aims to improve spatial decision-support in this domain by shifting focus from homogenous (forestry or agricultural) regions toward heterogeneous regions-i.e., areas with a presence of both forestry and agricultural activities; in this case, eastern Ontario, Canada. Multiple land-cover and resource map series are integrated in order to produce a spatially distributed GIS-based model of resource availability. These data are soft-linked with spreadsheet-based linear models in order to estimate and compare the quantity and supply-cost of the full range of non-food bioenergy feedstock available to a prospective developer, and to assess the merits of a mixed feedstock stream relative to a homogenous feedstock stream. The method is applied to estimate bioenergy production potentials and biomass supply-cost curves for a number of cities in the study region. Comparisons of biomass catchment areas; supply-cost curves; resource density maps; and resource flow charts demonstrate considerable strategic and operational advantages to locating a facility within the region's. transition zone. between forestry and agricultural activities. Existing and emerging bioenergy technologies that are feedstock agnostic and therefore capable of accepting a mixed-feedstock stream are reviewed with emphasis on. intermediates. such as wood pellets; biogas; and bio-oils, as well as bio-industrial clusters.
... This study presented cost-effective means to turn forest bioenergy to carbon neutral. However, the forest owner may not be willing to supply biomass for energy on the basis of long-term contracts (Wilnhammer et al., 2012), to sell woody biomass for energy regardless of the price because of environmental concerns (Aguilar et al., 2013), or to change the forest management to supply woody biomass for energy even if this would lead to a higher financial return (Blennow et al., 2014). Forest fertilization increases carbon sequestration and may be a cost-effective way to balance for the carbon loss. ...
Harvesting branches, unmerchantable tree tops and stumps for bioenergy reduces the carbon stock and the sink capacity of forest. We analyzed forest management changes that are financially viable for a forest owner to compensate for carbon loss resulting from the forest harvest residue extraction, and thus lead to truly carbon-neutral forest bioenergy. The management options studied included forest fertilization, elongated rotation periods, varying the type of forest residues extracted, and leaving high stumps. The costs of carbon loss compensation varied widely from 5 to 4000 € ha− 1 between the management options. The lowest costs resulted from harvesting quickly decomposing branches combined with low levels of fertilization. Harvesting all residues and applying intensive fertilization regimes or postponing final felling generated the highest costs. A requirement for fast carbon loss compensation increased the costs. The results indicated that changes in the forest management improve the carbon benefits of forest bioenergy, and some of these changes are inexpensive for the forest owner. The optimization results suggested that the longer time period was allowed for the carbon loss compensation, the fewer cost-effective silvicultural measures existed in the optimal combination of management regimes for the compensation.
In Europe, 60% of the forest area is privately owned, with a significant proportion of nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) being highly fragmented with, in particular, low intensity forest management. Numerous typologies have therefore been developed to provide detailed guidance to policy makers for the design of policy instruments to involve these owners in forest management approaches. However, these policy instruments fail to involve all categories of owners and there is no method made by and with people locally in charge of policy implementation to increase the commitment of NIPF owners. The main objective of this study is to adapt the persona method, which is a central user-centered design tool, to design typologies of NIPF owners as future users of policy instruments. We have designed our personas in the Vosges territory (France), in the context of the main French forest policy objective of increasing timber harvesting and NIPF sustainable management. Our results designed eight types of personas as well as a six-part composition of the persona sheet. The main interest is to provide a general methodology to forest policy and forest managers based on rigorous concepts of usercentered design processes and co-creation, to implement operational tools for NIFP management. Finally, both future developments and methodological limitations are discussed in a global research perspective.
The European Commission expects the use of biomass for energy in the EU to increase significantly between 2010 and 2020 to meet a legally binding target to cover at least 20% of EU’s total energy use from renewable sources in 2020. According to estimates made by the member states of the EU, the direct supply of biomass from forests is expected to increase by 45% on a volume basis between 2006 and 2020 in response to increasing demand (Beurskens et al. 2011; Dees et al., 2011). Our aims were to test the hypotheses that European private forest owners’ attitudes towards supplying woody biomass for energy 1/ can be explained by their responses to changes in prices and markets and 2/ are positive so that the forest biomass share of the EU 2020 renewable energy target can be met. Based on survey data collected in 2010 from 800 private forest owners in Sweden, Germany and Portugal our results show that the respondents’ attitudes towards supplying woody biomass for energy cannot be explained as direct responses to changes in prices and markets. Our results, furthermore, imply that European private forest owners cannot be expected to supply the requested amounts of woody biomass for energy to meet the forest biomass share of the EU 2020 renewable energy target, at least if stemwood is to play the important role as studies by Verkerk et al. (2011), UNECE and FAO (2011) and Elbersen et al. (2012) suggest.
This handbook has the purpose to promote harmonisation in the development of biomass resource
assessments. It provides best practice methods for determination of biomass resource potentials, and
gives guidance for transparent presentation of results by providing terms and definitions needed for the
execution and presentation of biomass resource assessments.
Methods are provided for four categories of biomass types: (1) forest biomass, (2) energy crops, (3)
agricultural residues and (4) organic waste. Furthermore, five types of methods are identified:
statistical methods, spatially explicit methods, cost-supply methods, energy-economics and energy
system model methods, and integrated assessments. For each of the before-mentioned biomass types,
the handbook shows how these methods can be applied. Furthermore, the handbook provides a
detailed overview of sustainability aspects that can be implemented in future biomass assessments.
The concept of small-scale forest ownership means different things to different people in different countries. Traditionally,
within Europe, many small-scale forest owners were economically dependent on their forests, either for home or commercial
use, usually linked with farming activities. However, many small-scale forest owners are no longer economically dependent
on their forests and these owners appear to increasingly focus their management on amenity functions rather than on production
functions. These changes in forest ownership are related to more general trends in rural dynamics. As a result of these dynamics,
increasingly rural development is not focused on agricultural modernisation, but on rural restructuring. A description of
how forest owners themselves perceive their forests has been made on the basis of a survey amongst 1401 small-scale forest
owners in eight European countries. Data were collected on ownership and management characteristics as well as on the perspectives
regarding the future of the rural area in which the forests are located. The median forest size varies between 1.3 ha in Greece
to 4.5 ha in Spain. About 30% of the forest owners have an indifferent attitude to their forests. This group includes many
absentee owners and retired local owners, who own only forest lands but who are not economically dependent on these forests.
Almost 40% of the forest owners are only modestly interested in forest management; often they have an environmental management
orientation. This group includes many hobby owners and part-time employed people. Only one-third of the private forest owners
are still economically dependent on their forests; they have predominantly a multifunctional management orientation. The survey
findings suggest that policies to stimulate forestry development should be diversified in respect to these different types
of small-scale forest owners.
Coarse woody debris (CWD) is an important substrate in forests, provides habitat for a multitude of organisms and is also
a sink and a source for nutrients and carbon. To assess the dynamics of this substrate equations to describe the course of
decomposition have been developed. They can also be used to describe the release of carbon from dead wood into the atmosphere.
Unfortunately few equations have been parameterised for European conditions, although there is a need to estimate the dynamics
of CWD in this region. Therefore, a method (termed the LB-method) was invented to estimate suitable decomposition rate constants
(DRC) from sources published in the CWD Global Database by systematically comparing features and conditions of the area and
species of interest with the information given with the published equations. The DRC were weighed according to these comparisons
and then sorted by the weight assigned to them. From the resulting distribution a plausible DRC for the region and species
of interest was estimated. The LB-method was compared to results from a study on Norway spruce (Picea abies L.) decomposition in Thuringia, Germany, and to results from an expert elicitation on DRC for Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) in the Federal State of Brandenburg, Germany. In both cases the method gave results within the confidence interval of
the respective study used for comparison. Both methods are suitable for the estimation of preliminary DRC until more accurate
constants can be derived by research. While the focus in this study was on density loss the method can be applied to other
dead wood features (e.g. volume), and should be applicable to other regions of the world where information is also scarce.
In the article, I look at a phenomenon present in many small-scale European forests, their underutilisation. This underutilisation is obvious when it comes to timber extraction, but it can be argued that it is also present in relation to certain ecological or social uses of the forest. I do not want to judge this phenomenon in the article, but want to understand the reason this underutilisation occurs. Looking at forest resources worldwide and also in history, we conventionally face a problem of overuse. Taking first the property rights theory, I then refer to the tragedy of the anticommons to analyse the underutilisation. We observe a spatial anticommons in our forests. Even if the outcome of the tragedy of the commons and of the tragedy of the anticommons are opposed, I argue that analysing the solutions to the problems requires the same theoretical background. Both are collective action problems. However, compared to problems observed in forests elsewhere, the conditions for collective action are substantially different in the regarded case. In closing, I briefly compare forests as anticommons with other debates on the anticommons going on in the other debates around the commons.
Dieses Standardwerk beschreibt umfassend und detailliert die biologischen, physikalischen, chemischen und technischen Grundlagen einer Energiegewinnung aus Biomasse. Es werden die Möglichkeiten der Bereitstellung von Nutz- bzw. Endenergie aus organischen Stoffen sachlich und mit Hilfe aussagekräftiger Abbildungen dargestellt. Die Autoren gehen konkret ein auf die unterschiedlichen Biomasseressourcen und ihre Verfügbarmachung sowie auf deren thermo-chemische, physikalisch-chemische sowie bio-chemische Umwandlung in Sekundärenergieträger bzw. in End- oder Nutzenergie.
> Die 2. Auflage wurde vollständig überarbeitet und teilweise neu strukturiert. Hinzu gekommen sind u.a. folgende Themen: die Bereitstellung flüssiger und gasförmiger Biokraftstoffe über die thermo-chemische Biomasseumwandlung, die Torrefizierung fester Biomassen, die Optionen zur Hydrierung von Pflanzenölen und die Technik der Einspeisung von Biogas in Erdgasnetze. Das Buch bietet einen soliden und umfassenden Überblick nach dem Stand der Technik und informiert über Trends und neuere Entwicklungen. Es ist den Herausgebern gelungen, unter Mitarbeit einer Vielzahl kompetenter Fachleute ein solides Werk "aus einem Guss" zu erarbeiten.
> Es ist geeignet für Studierende, Anlagenbetreiber, Berater, Wissenschaftler und interessierte Laien.
In the article, I look at a phenomenon present in many small-scale European forests, their underutilisation. This underutilisation is obvious when it comes to timber extraction, but it can be argued that it is also present in relation to certain ecological or social uses of the forest. I do not want to judge this phenomenon in the article, but want to understand the reason this underutilisation occurs. Looking at forest resources worldwide and also in history, we conventionally face a problem of overuse. Taking first the property rights theory, I then refer to the tragedy of the anticommons to analyse the underutilisation. We observe a spatial anticommons in our forests. Even if the outcome of the tragedy of the commons and of the tragedy of the anticommons are opposed, I argue that analysing the solutions to the problems requires the same theoretical background. Both are collective action problems. However,
compared to problems observed in forests elsewhere, the conditions for collective action are substantially different in the regarded case. In closing, I briefly compare forests as anticommons with other debates on the anticommons going
on in the other debates around the commons.
The present article is a reflection on the results from a representative opinion poll among Swiss private forest owners regarding the actual and future role of extension services. First, the importance of extension and advisory services as forest policy instruments is discussed. It is confirmed that the effectiveness of all extension activities depends on a sufficient knowledge of the addressees about the scope and availability of such activities. Second, the context and methodology of the current research project concerning Swiss private forest owners are explained and possible contributions to the topic of extension services are identified. Third, selected empirical findings concerning extension are discussed such as the social structure of private forest ownership and judgements of the owners with regard to the importance of extension. It is shown that there is little active demand for extension services whereas the already existing services are accepted or even appreciated. The last part of the article reflects these findings in the light of current developments in (European) forest policy.
In many countries, forestry associations represent an important forest policy tool for overcoming the problems that often
arise with small forest ownership. In Germany associations are established for economic reasons as well as for reasons pertaining
to governance. For over 100 years there has been discussion concerning the suitability of various organisational models. Of
the wide spectrum of possible organisational forms, only a few variants have been used as of late. These are often accredited
as being inefficient with regard to the extent to which they fulfil their intended functions. This paper researches the reasons
for various assumptions made of neo-institutionalism with regard to the establishment and survival of forestry associations.
The analysis is based on public and scientific debate of this topic. It gives an overview of the political discussion that
has taken place over the last few decades as well as the current state of related scientific literature. It can be shown that,
aside from issues related to the efficiency of associations in the fulfilment of duties, the impact that associations have
with regard to legitimising the engagement of other actors and their supply of resources is also relevant.
Research about small scale forest owners is often dominated by a focus on forest owner's professions. The sources of their income are expected to explain why people use their forest in the way they do it. Studies throughout Central Europe show that only a minority of the forest owners are still full-time farmers. Due to the increased mobility, many forest owners now live in cities, where they are engaged in urban lifestyles. The use of the forests by such urban-oriented forest owners might be better explained by the specific features of such urban lifestyles rather than the classical features of income and social status. Therefore, the article describes the lifestyle concept in a theoretical way and gives an outlook on the assumed situation of forest owners in Germany. It is discussed whether better understanding of forest owner lifestyles may promote policy extension within the forestry sector. Empirical evidence is drawn from two studies in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg about the effect of changes in lifestyles on forest management. The first study analyses characteristics of one specific lifestyle, the farm forest owners in the Central Black Forest. It describes almost homogeneous social structures characterised by the identification via profession, roots in the region, low mobility and a high demand for independence. On the basis of some examples, a possibility to derive prognoses from the data is suggested. Furthermore, the output of the study is compared with the results of a survey that covered the situation of small scale forest owners in a much larger area integrating urban and rural regions. This second study gains a general overview on forest owner lifestyles in Baden-Wuerttemberg. It aims to classify forest owners by their urban orientation. The characteristics that were selected for the construction of a specific scale of urban orientation illustrate the extent in which their lifestyles can be considered as being urban-based. Therefore, the lifestyle ‘full-time farm forester’ can be compared with others with respect to the size of the group, its homogeneity and the average degree of urbanity.
Single tree forest growth simulators have proven to be very flexible tools for predicting forest growth. They are commonly applied in the United States but they are rarely used in European forest management yet. One of the few exceptions is the simulator SILVA, which is presented in this paper. The underlying equations of this simulator are developed from a set of more than 155,000 tree observations, including the species Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.), Silver fir (Abies alba Mill.), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), Common beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and Sessile oak (Quercuspetraea (Mattuschka) Liebl.). These basic model equations are presented together with respective parameter values, derived from the aforesaid data set.The benefits of SILVA for forest practice, research, and education are demonstrated with three exemplary applications. Evaluation in terms of biological plausibility, validation, and practical use of the implemented software is presented, which shows that: (1) biological principles could be represented without explicitly being implemented, and (2) the simulation results are very close to independent observations as far as the range of parameterized site conditions is not exceeded. Furthermore, possible implications of changing conditions or an application of the model across a wider geographical range are discussed with special reference to the ongoing process of parameterization.
An overview of biomass for production of densified biofuels on a global scale is given. Bioenergy production as heat, electricity, and liquid fuels represents about 14% of the World's primary energy supply. About 25% of the usage is in industrialised countries and the other 75% is used in developing countries. There is an estimated 3870 (106) ha of forest worldwide. The average area of forest and wooded land per inhabitant varies between 6.6 ha in Oceania, 0.2 ha in Asia, and 1.4 ha in Europe. The world's total above-ground biomass in forests amounts to 420 (109) tonnes, of which more than 40% is located in South America. Estimates by FAO (2000) show that global production and use of woodfuel and roundwood reached about 3300 (106) m3 in 1999. About 55% is used directly as fuel, e.g. as split firewood, and about 90% of this is produced and consumed in the developing countries. The remaining 45% is used as industrial raw material, but about 40% of this is used as primary or secondary process residues, suitable only for energy production. The total sustainable worldwide biomass energy potential is about 100 EJ/a (the share of woody biomass is 41.6 EJ/a), which is about 30% of total global energy consumption today. About 40 EJ/a of available biomass is used for energy. Nearly 60% of this biomass is used only in Asia. A comparison between the available potential with current use shows that on a worldwide level about two-fifths of the existing biomass potential is used, and in most areas of the world the current biomass use is clearly below the available potential. Only in Asia does the current use exceed the available potential. Therefore, an increased biomass use is possible, e.g. for production of densified biofuels, in most countries.
Waldenergieholz, d.h. Hackschnitzel aus Waldholz, stellt neben anderen nachwachsenden Rohstoffen einen wichtigen Bestandteil in der zukünftigen Energieversorgung dar. Die Bedeutung dieses Energieträgers im künftigen Energiemix hängt dabei wesentlich von Prognosen seiner mittel- bis langfristigen regionalen Verfügbarkeit ab, da diese die Grundlage für Nutzungsstrategien von Waldbesitzern ebenso wie für Investitionsentscheidungen von Kraftwerksbetreibern sind.
Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war die Entwicklung einer Methode zur Prognose und Kalkulation regionaler, wirtschaftlich zu realisierender Waldenergieholzpotenziale auf der Grundlage forstlicher Inventur- und Planungsdaten unter Berücksichtigung technischer, ökologischer und ökonomischer Nutzungseinschränkungen sowie die flächenbezogene Darstellung der Potenziale mit Hilfe Geographischer Informationssysteme. Diese Kalkulationsmethode wurde beispielhaft auf einen konkreten Forstbetrieb angewendet.
Im Rahmen der Umsetzungsstudie der entwickelten Kalkulationsmethode zeigte sich, dass bei der Bereitstellung von Waldenergieholz neben der Eingriffstärke [in Efm/ ha] und den Aushaltungsvorgaben [Zopfdurchmesser in cm] vor allem die Ernteverluste [in %] sowie die zu erwartenden Erlöse für Waldenergieholz [in €/ Efm] einen großen Einfluss auf das wirt-schaftliche regionale Waldenergieholzpotenzial haben.
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