Sustainability Assessment of Intensified Forestry—Forest Bioenergy versus Forest Biodiversity Targeting Forest Birds
Intensified forestry can be seen as a solution to climate change mitigation and securing energy supply, increasing the production of forest bioenergy feedstock as a substitution for fossil fuels. However, it may come with detrimental impacts on forest biodiversity, especially related to older forest...
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doaj-fc666b5081cb4788b80b43bd82a498592021-03-05T00:08:10ZengMDPI AGSustainability2071-10502021-03-01132789278910.3390/su13052789Sustainability Assessment of Intensified Forestry—Forest Bioenergy versus Forest Biodiversity Targeting Forest BirdsUlla Mörtberg0Xi-Lillian Pang1Rimgaudas Treinys2Renats Trubins3Gintautas Mozgeris4KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, SwedenKTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, SwedenNature Research Centre, LT–08412 Vilnius, LithuaniaSouthern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-230 53 Alnarp, SwedenInstitute of Forest Management and Wood Science, Faculty of Forest Sciences and Ecology, Agriculture Academy, Vytautas Magnus University, LT-53361 Akademija, Kaunas dstr., LithuaniaIntensified forestry can be seen as a solution to climate change mitigation and securing energy supply, increasing the production of forest bioenergy feedstock as a substitution for fossil fuels. However, it may come with detrimental impacts on forest biodiversity, especially related to older forests. The aim of this study was to assess the sustainability of intensified forestry from climate-energy and biodiversity perspectives, targeting forest bird species. For this purpose, we applied the Landscape simulation and Ecological Assessment (LEcA) tool to the study area of Lithuania, having high ambitions for renewables and high forest biodiversity. With LEcA, we simulated forest growth and management for 100 years with two forest management strategies: Business As Usual (BAU) and Intensive forestry (INT), the latter with the purpose to fulfil renewable energy goals. With both strategies, the biomass yields increased well above the yields of the reference year, while the biodiversity indicators related to forest bird habitat to different degrees show the opposite, with lower levels than for the reference year. Furthermore, Strategy INT resulted in small-to-no benefits in the long run concerning potential biomass harvesting, while substantially affecting the biodiversity indicators negatively. The model results have the potential to inform policy and forest management planning concerning several sustainability goals simultaneously.https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/5/2789forest bioenergy feedstockclimate change mitigationolder forestforest biodiversityforest birdsforest management |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Ulla Mörtberg Xi-Lillian Pang Rimgaudas Treinys Renats Trubins Gintautas Mozgeris |
spellingShingle |
Ulla Mörtberg Xi-Lillian Pang Rimgaudas Treinys Renats Trubins Gintautas Mozgeris Sustainability Assessment of Intensified Forestry—Forest Bioenergy versus Forest Biodiversity Targeting Forest Birds Sustainability forest bioenergy feedstock climate change mitigation older forest forest biodiversity forest birds forest management |
author_facet |
Ulla Mörtberg Xi-Lillian Pang Rimgaudas Treinys Renats Trubins Gintautas Mozgeris |
author_sort |
Ulla Mörtberg |
title |
Sustainability Assessment of Intensified Forestry—Forest Bioenergy versus Forest Biodiversity Targeting Forest Birds |
title_short |
Sustainability Assessment of Intensified Forestry—Forest Bioenergy versus Forest Biodiversity Targeting Forest Birds |
title_full |
Sustainability Assessment of Intensified Forestry—Forest Bioenergy versus Forest Biodiversity Targeting Forest Birds |
title_fullStr |
Sustainability Assessment of Intensified Forestry—Forest Bioenergy versus Forest Biodiversity Targeting Forest Birds |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sustainability Assessment of Intensified Forestry—Forest Bioenergy versus Forest Biodiversity Targeting Forest Birds |
title_sort |
sustainability assessment of intensified forestry—forest bioenergy versus forest biodiversity targeting forest birds |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Sustainability |
issn |
2071-1050 |
publishDate |
2021-03-01 |
description |
Intensified forestry can be seen as a solution to climate change mitigation and securing energy supply, increasing the production of forest bioenergy feedstock as a substitution for fossil fuels. However, it may come with detrimental impacts on forest biodiversity, especially related to older forests. The aim of this study was to assess the sustainability of intensified forestry from climate-energy and biodiversity perspectives, targeting forest bird species. For this purpose, we applied the Landscape simulation and Ecological Assessment (LEcA) tool to the study area of Lithuania, having high ambitions for renewables and high forest biodiversity. With LEcA, we simulated forest growth and management for 100 years with two forest management strategies: Business As Usual (BAU) and Intensive forestry (INT), the latter with the purpose to fulfil renewable energy goals. With both strategies, the biomass yields increased well above the yields of the reference year, while the biodiversity indicators related to forest bird habitat to different degrees show the opposite, with lower levels than for the reference year. Furthermore, Strategy INT resulted in small-to-no benefits in the long run concerning potential biomass harvesting, while substantially affecting the biodiversity indicators negatively. The model results have the potential to inform policy and forest management planning concerning several sustainability goals simultaneously. |
topic |
forest bioenergy feedstock climate change mitigation older forest forest biodiversity forest birds forest management |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/5/2789 |
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