Finland
The main focus of the study is to investigate at region and country level how the interactions / trade-offs between strong industrial wood demand, forest carbon sink and biodiversity are affected by disturbance to forests, and how the frequency of disturbance may increase under climate change. We will focus on wind and drought damages. These may also predispose the stands to insect damage.
Quick overview
Area: Country level, with special focus on a 60,000km² area in southern Finland |
Value chain: Large industry dominates |
Biogeografical area: Boreal |
Species composition  |
In short
Case Study - Finland | |||
Disturbances |  Storms | ||
Ecosystem Services |  Wood & biomass production |  Carbon sequestration & storage |  Biodiversity conservation |
Case study Q&A
How does the value chain look like: supply, demand, timber market?
Demand of wood is largely determined by a few large companies operating large pulp, paper and sawmills in the area. Most of the demand is satisfied by active forest management in private forests. Wood markets are active. In past years, raw wood was also imported from Russia to satisfy the industrial demand. State forests supplies less than ten percent of annually cut roundwood volume in Finland.
What are the silvicultural measures applied – if any?
The main silvicultural measures include regulating stand density, species mixture and harvest schedules. A general recommendation has been to favour deciduous mixture and fairly low stand densities, as well as to conduct all management actions on time. To avoid damage to Norway spruce, the recommendation is not to plant it in sites of too low fertility or too low soil moisture. In addition, biocontrol agent RotStop and urea are applied to fresh cut stump surface to reduce the risk of invasion of root rot to the harvested site, and game management is used with the attempt to reduce elk damage, in particular.
What is the amount of the wood harvested?
Annual roundwood removals within study area (60,000km², 70% of which productive forests)
Case study partners
