Multifunctional comparison of different management strategies in boreal forests

Abstract

In sustainable forestry, forests should produce multiple ecosystem services for society, such as timber, carbon sequestration and biodiversity. Therefore, in the evaluation of forest management strategies, we have to consider the impacts of management on several ecosystem services. In this study, we compared the effects of five different forest management strategies on timber drain, carbon stocks, carbon balance and biodiversity indicators, while maximizing economic revenues from timber production. The assessment was carried out in a boreal landscape of 43 000 ha over a 100-year calculation period. The five management strategies were rotation forest management (with thinning from below or above), continuous cover forestry, a combination of rotation forest management and continuous cover forestry and any-aged forestry. Rotation forest management with thinning from below was less profitable than the other strategies, which were close to each other in economic profitability. Rotation forest management with thinning from below was also the poorest in terms of carbon stocks, carbon balance and biodiversity indicators. Any-aged and continuous cover forestry were the best in terms of carbon sequestration and biodiversity indicators. In general, management strategies that used thinning from above and that were not restricted to rotation forest management as the only option provided more ecosystem services and were also economically profitable. Such management strategies may help to satisfy the increasing demand for diverse uses of forests.

Climate change induces multiple risks to boreal forests and forestry in Finland: A literature review

“…Furthermore, that kind of devastating biotic damages that have already been observed in central Europe (Hlásny et al, 2019;Schelhaas et al, 2003;Seidl et al, 2014;Woodward et al, 1998), may become more common in the future, especially in coniferous forests in the southern and middle boreal zone of Finland. In this respect, multifunctionality of forest management (Díaz-Yáñez, Pukkala, Packalén, & Peltola, 2019;Seidl & Lexer, 2013) is needed to increase the resilience of forests to multiple disturbances induced by the climate change (Seidl et al, 2017). For example, growing mixed forests on suitable forest sites instead of monocultures may increase the resilience.…”

Economic losses in carbon forestry due to errors in inventory data

“…A closer examination of the management prescriptions showed that increasing the carbon price meant that most of the selected cuttings were thinnings from above. This is because thinning from above results in a better carbon balance than thinning from below (Díaz-Yáñez et al 2020). In addition, thinning from above also leads to a higher proportion of sawlogs, and consequently, greater timber revenues.…”

Climate-Smart Forestry Case Study: Finland

“…Until recently, the management of Finnish forests has been based, almost solely, on evenaged rotation forestry. However, interest among forest owners, professionals and general society in diversifying forest management practices and increasing provisioning of multiple ecosystem services has increased the attractiveness of unevenaged management and mixed-species forestry (Díaz-Yáñez et al 2020).…”

“…The flexible use of diverse management strategies, instead of one single management strategy (e.g. even-, uneven-and any-aged management) may help to ensure forest resilience and simultaneously provide multiple ecosystem services for society (Díaz-Yáñez et al 2020).…”

“…Instead, in CSF, it is preferential to both increase the carbon stocks and sinks in forests, and increasingly use harvested wood for products and fuels, which will release fewer GHG emissions into the atmosphere, rather than the fossil-based products and fuels they are substituting for. At the same time, maintaining biodiversity and sustainably provisioning multiple ecosystem services should be ensured (Heinonen et al 2017;Díaz-Yáñez et al 2020).…”