Sammanfattning

Harvesting of wood for bioenergy purpose will probably increase in importance in the future, in order to replace fossil fuel. However, the environmental impact of increased harvesting might be considerable, e.g. on soil and water chemistry, biodiversity and long-term productivity, and in this study we investigate thresholds for sustainable harvesting volumes. The study is based on scientific reviews of the impact of harvesting of logging residues (slash and stumps) on forest production, biodiversity, acidification, eutrophication and toxic substances. We define sustainability by using environmental objectives decided by the Swedish parliament (which are based on the Aichi targets), and relate the harvesting impact to these objectives within different harvesting scenarios, by using expert judgment. We demonstrate that an increase in harvesting of logging residues by 2.5 times might be sustainable. However, we also identify a number of risks and the sustainability depends on a number of requirements that should be fulfilled, such as ash-recycling. It was found that factors related to biodiversity conservation (defined in the goals 'Sustainable Forests' and 'A Rich Diversity of Plant and Animal Life') were limiting factors both for slash- and stump harvesting, and that risk of acidification (defined in the goal 'Natural Acidification Only') also limit slash harvesting. We also include harvesting of brushwood and energy wood from conservation cutting in the discussion, since these assortments might be important in the future.

Nyckelord

Sustainability; Logging-residues; Environmental impact; Bioenergy; Stump-harvest

Publicerad i

Forest Ecology and Management
2017, Volym: 383, nummer: SI, sidor: 3-16
Utgivare: Elsevier

SLU författare

• de Jong, Johnny

  • Institutionen för stad och land, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Egnell, Gustaf

  • Institutionen för skogens ekologi och skötsel, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Löfgren, Stefan

  • Institutionen för vatten och miljö, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Olsson, Bengt

  • Institutionen för ekologi, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

Associerade SLU-program

SLU Centrum för biologisk mångfald, CBM


Globala målen

SDG7 Säkerställa tillgång till ekonomiskt överkomlig, tillförlitlig, hållbar och modern energi för alla
SDG15 Skydda, återställa och främja ett hållbart nyttjande av landbaserade ekosystem, hållbart bruka skogar, bekämpa ökenspridning, hejda och vrida tillbaka markförstöringen samt hejda förlusten av biologisk mångfald
SDG12 Säkerställa hållbara konsumtions- och produktionsmönster


UKÄ forskningsämne

Skogsvetenskap


Publikationens identifierare

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2016.06.028

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/78011