Products
Forest management and wood products for a sustainable bioeconomy
In this task, CLIMB-FOREST team is working to better understand how wood products and forest management practices can contribute to a sustainable bioeconomy.
First, we are looking at current and future trends in wood-based products and to what extent they are more sustainable than their non-wood alternatives. We’ll be conducting a life cycle analysis taking account of factors such as carbon emissions and recyclability.
Consumer choice experiments, which present consumers with a series of wood products and characteristics and ask which they prefer, will help us better understand consumer demand for wood products and we will also test how these preferences change when consumers are presented with information on the environmental impact of different wood products.
We will also explore the role alternative forest management practices can play in contributing to a sustainable bioeconomy. We’ll work closely with forest managers and owners to assess the feasibility of adopting certain management practices and to what extent value the additional ecosystem services these practices provide. Finally, we’ll explore the potential of a scheme of payments for forest ecosystem services and report on our recommendations.
News and resources
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Report on current and future trends in the use of wood and demand for wood and wood properties
We performed a systematic evidence synthesis to assess the current and future demand for forest ecosystem services, including wood products, in Europe.
The studied papers were organized into the forest paradigms of Winkel et al. (2011) based on their geographic scope.
We find that demand for both roundwood and bioenergy is likely to increase in the coming years. Looking at ecosystem services, a clear demand preference for mixed forest stands over monocultures was found.
Secondly, we found a strong demand, based on willingness to pay, for regulating and maintaining services. Given the large geographical and structural diversity in Europe's forests, no one size fits all solution when it comes to forest management is appropriate. Therefore, a set of management options is likely needed to meet the future demands for all ecosystem services.
Additionally, the growing demand for provisioning services, in particular bioenergy, might lead to conflicting management goals, especially when biodiversity and conservation are considered. Due to a lack of knowledge on the forest ecosystem, the general public has been found to hold contradicting views.
Partners involved
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KU Leuven
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Lund University
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NIBIO
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Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
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ETH Zürich
Discover more
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Mapping
Mapping the management history and the current state of Europe’s forests to better understand the impact different forest management methods have on forests across Europe.
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Data
Using data from long-term monitoring sites and satellite observations to assess and quantify climate effects occurring in forests across Europe.
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Management
Working closely with forest owners, forest policy makers and other key stakeholder to identify the most optimal forest management options for the coming decades.
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Modelling
Bringing together advanced modelling capacity and state-of-the-art scenarios to explore how forests will change in the future.
Contact us
Drop us a message if you have any questions about CLIMB-FOREST products and management work or if you would like to connect with the team.
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