Assessing impacts of intensified biomass removal and biodiversity protection on European forests.

Verkerk P.J. (2015). Assessing impacts of intensified biomass removal and biodiversity protection on European forests. Dissertationes Forestales 197. 50 p. http://dx.doi.org/10.14214/df.197 Forests provide many benefits to society and it is important to understand if, and how, policies affect the provisioning of ecosystem services. The objective of this dissertation was to analyze and evaluate impacts of intensified biomass production and biodiversity protection on ecosystem services provided by European forests. Article I assessed to what extent forests are protected and how felling restrictions affect the potential annual wood supply. Felling restrictions applied to currently protected forest areas reduce the long-term potential supply of wood by 35 million m 3 yr -1 . Despite these restrictions, wood harvesting is allowed to a fair extent in these protected forests. Articles II-V assessed the future woody biomass potentials and impacts of different scenarios on forests using the European Forest Information SCENario model (EFISCEN). In article II, the realisable woody biomass potential was estimated at 741 million m 3 yr -1 in 2010, including woody biomass from stems, residues, stumps and other biomass, ranging from 620 to 891 million m 3 yr -1 in 2030. Mobilising these potentials would imply drastic changes in the management of European forests. According to articles III-V intensified biomass removals could involve trade-offs with other forest ecosystem services. Carbon storage in forest biomass, as well as the amount of deadwood, was projected to decline due to measures to intensify the use of forests. An economic valuation showed that intensifying biomass removals could lead to a net economic benefit measured by the aggregated value of five ecosystem services, as compared to projections without measures to intensify use of forest biomass. Larger social benefits could potentially be obtained if biodiversity protection is enhanced in European forests. The results presented in this dissertation illustrate that careful planning is required to accommodate the need for protection of biodiversity, the expected growing demand for wood, as well as the provisioning of forest ecosystem services.

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