Economics of forest carbon storage and the additionality principle

Tahvonen, Olli; Rautiainen, Aapo

doi:10.1016/j.reseneeco.2017.07.001

Cited by 26 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 124 publications

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“…As carbon stock movements are not always related to biodiversity, it is crucial for the design of environmental policies to differentiate between land carbon stocks and biodiversity (Phelps et al , 2012). Complementing payments for ecosystems, land taxes are discussed as a new policy instrument that would reduce pressure on ecosystems (Kalkuhl, & Edenhofer, 2017; Kalkuhl et al , 2018; Tahvonen & Rautiainen, 2017). Our data reveals that in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America rural population growth is accompanied by an increase in cropland and a reduction in biodiversity (Figures 1 & 3), pointing to potential expansions in agricultural production due to population pressure (cf.…”

Section: Discussion and Conclusion: Towards Managing Global Land-use mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing human and environmental pressures of global land-use change 2000–2010

et al. 2019

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Non-technical summaryGlobal land is turning into an increasingly scarce resource. We here present a comprehensive assessment of co-occuring land-use change from 2000 until 2010, compiling existing spatially explicit data sources for different land uses, and building on a rich literature addressing specific land-use changes in all world regions. This review systematically categorizes patterns of land use, including regional urbanization and agricultural expansion but also globally telecoupled land-use change for all world regions. Managing land-use change patterns across the globe requires global governance.

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Section: Discussion and Conclusion: Towards Managing Global Land-use mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing human and environmental pressures of global land-use change 2000–2010

et al. 2019

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“…One of the putative strengths of substitutive model-coupling is in fact the degree to which it mirrors disciplinary practices and helps provide a foundation for solid collaborative methodological development and investigation. The cases we have observed combine pre-existing modeling frameworks, and at the same time move from relatively simple cases to more complex ones through step-by-step development, as in forest management models taking into account a non-clearcut regime (Tahvonen & Rämö, 2016), bioenergy and carbon storage (Pihlainen, Tahvonen, & Niinimäki, 2014;Tahvonen & Rautiainen, 2017), or reindeer management models taking into account government subsidies (Pekkarinen, Kumpula, & Tahvonen, 2015). Substitutive model-coupling offers a platform for building frameworks equivalent to something like Humphreys' templates, although templates devoted to collaborative interdisciplinary work rather than disciplinary work.…”

Section: Lessons For Interdisciplinarity: Crystallization and The Impmentioning

confidence: 92%

What does interdisciplinarity look like in practice: Mapping interdisciplinarity and its limits in the environmental sciences

MacLeod

Nagatsu

2018

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A

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In this paper we take a close look at current interdisciplinary modeling practices in the environmental sciences, and suggest that closer attention needs to be paid to the nature of scientific practices when investigating and planning interdisciplinarity. While interdisciplinarity is often portrayed as a medium of novel and transformative methodological work, current modeling strategies in the environmental sciences are conservative, avoiding methodological conflict, while confining interdisciplinary interactions to a relatively small set of pre-existing modeling frameworks and strategies (a process we call crystallization). We argue that such practices can be rationalized as responses in part to cognitive constraints which restrict interdisciplinary work. We identify four salient integrative modeling strategies in environmental sciences, and argue that this crystallization, while contradicting somewhat the novel goals many have for interdisciplinarity, makes sense when considered in the light of common disciplinary practices and cognitive constraints. These results provide cause to rethink in more concrete methodological terms what interdisciplinarity amounts to, and what kinds of interdisciplinarity are obtainable in the environmental sciences and elsewhere.

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“…According to stand-level analysis, applying the additionality principle leads to identical management solutions, as when subsidies are paid for the whole extent of net sequestration. However, market-level analysis with forest vintages shows that pricing additional storage induces distortions to both rotation age and the allocation between forestland and agricultural land (Tahvonen and Rautiainen 2017). These distortions may be corrected by a lump sum tax on land (Tahvonen and Rautiainen 2017).…”

Section: Policy Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, market-level analysis with forest vintages shows that pricing additional storage induces distortions to both rotation age and the allocation between forestland and agricultural land (Tahvonen and Rautiainen 2017). These distortions may be corrected by a lump sum tax on land (Tahvonen and Rautiainen 2017). While most of the literature on the economics of carbon storage is based on the subsidy-taxation approach utilized also in this thesis, an alternative approach called the carbon rental policy has been proposed in some studies Mendelsohn 2003, Uusivuori andLaturi 2007).…”

Section: Policy Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economics of carbon storage in heterogeneous forests

Assmuth¹

2020

Diss. For.

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Forests play a vital role in mitigating climate change, as they sequester and store large quantities of carbon. This dissertation examines how carbon storage may be increased by changing forest management at the stand level. To extend the economics of forest carbon storage beyond single-species even-aged stands, this dissertation develops a bioeconomic model framework that incorporates the size and species structure of the stand, and the optimal choice between continuous cover forestry and forestry based on clearcuts. The studies apply empirically estimated growth models for boreal conifer and broadleaf tree species. The dissertation consists of a summary section and three articles. The first article presents an analytically solvable economic model for timber production and carbon storage with optimized management regime choice between continuous cover and rotation forestry. Continuous-time optimal control theory is utilized to solve the thinning path and the potentially infinite rotation age: if no optimal finite rotation age exists, thinnings are performed indefinitely while maintaining continuous forest cover. The second article extends this model by applying a size-structured growth model for Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.), roadside pricing of sawlog and pulpwood, variable and fixed harvesting costs, and several carbon pools. The timing and intensity of thinnings, the rotation age, and the management regime are optimized numerically. In the third article, the optimization approach of the second article is extended to mixed-species size-structured stands. Species mixtures include the commercially valuable Norway spruce and birch (Betula pendula Roth and B. pubescens Ehrh.), and other broadleaves (e.g. Eurasian aspen, Populus tremula L., and maple, Acer sp.) that have no market value. Optimal rotation age is shown to either increase or decrease with carbon price depending on interest rate and the speed of carbon release from harvested wood products. Given empirically realistic assumptions, carbon pricing increases the rotation period and eventually causes a regime shift from rotation management to continuous cover management. Hence, carbon pricing heightens the importance of determining the management regime-continuous cover or rotation forestry-through optimization. Optimal thinnings are invariably targeted to the largest size classes of each tree species. Carbon pricing postpones thinnings and increases the average size of harvested and standing trees, hence increasing mean stand volume. Without carbon pricing, commercially nonvaluable other broadleaves are felled during each harvesting operation. When carbon storage is valued, some of the other broadleaves are retained standing until they are large, thus increasing tree species diversity and deadwood quantity. The results suggest that moderate carbon price levels increase timber yields, especially of sawlog that may be used for long-lived products. Increasing carbon storage through changes in forest management is shown to be relatively inexpensive, ...

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Economics of forest carbon storage and the additionality principle

Cited by 26 publications

References 124 publications

Assessing human and environmental pressures of global land-use change 2000–2010

Assessing human and environmental pressures of global land-use change 2000–2010

What does interdisciplinarity look like in practice: Mapping interdisciplinarity and its limits in the environmental sciences

Economics of carbon storage in heterogeneous forests

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