National

The fragmented ownership structure is one of the main challenges of wood mobilization in Europe. In Finland, 4 million hectares of forest area are in need of forest arrangements. Small-sized, dispersed forest property with difficult access to forests results in high costs for timber harvesting per hectare. Forest management and harvesting are more difficult in small estates since boundaries and forest vehicle paths take up most of the estate.

 
Through the process of forest estate arrangements, it is possible to form bigger forest estates for cost efficiency.  Arrangements can be made by changing estates among forest owners to shape the size and form of the forest estate. The arrangements might need trading forest estates.  A new forest consolidation and forest conservation are possible also. Forest road network and drainage need to be adapted for the new situation. The process takes usually 3-6 years depending on the area.

Forest estate arrangements lead to bigger forest estates units, which contribute to better forest management and harvesting. Forest owners become more active in taking care of their forests and forestry companies are more interested in mobilizing wood from better harvesting conditions and easier access to forest.  
To gain the benefits, more discussion and communication are needed around forest estates. Forest owners need to be activated in taking action concerning the arrangements of their forests. 

Bigger forest estates with easier access to forest property.
Better conditions for harvesting.
Cost-efficiency in harvesting and forest regeneration.
Active management of forests.
Easier management of forests.
Increased forest growth.
Tax relief and financial support for forest owners.

Biomass Atlas is an open service which collects the location data of biomasses under one, single user interphase. Developed by Luke together with Finnish organizations SYKE, TAPIO, UEF and UVA, and by the funding of the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the service enables calculations of the amount of biomass in a given geographical area, as well as examining the opportunities and restrictions to utilise the biomass.
The map user interface is easy to use and allows user to watch, analyse and report biomasses from forestry, agriculture and biodegradable wastes from communities and industry. You will find approximately 300 map layers of different biomass types or land use categories in map user interface.

Based on Biomass Atlas, assessments of regional availability of biomass, procurement and logistical costs of biomass, procurement technology and optimization in Luke and other organizations have been successfully accomplished. Analyses of content of biomasses, their nutrients, energy potential, and the nutrient recycling have been optimized regionally using Biomass Atlas.
The potential to utilize biomass regionally can be assessed with focus in employment, regional economy or environmental impact. It is also possible to make scenarios, how these things will develop in the future.

The biomass data is planned to support investment decisions and sustainable use of natural resources, for example, and to help decision-makers to do sustainable energy politics. At the moment Biomass Atlas is available in Finnish. International version of Biomass Atlas will be built in cooperation with Baltic Forbio project, which starts at autumn 2017 and exports the Biomass Atlas concept to Sweden and Baltic sea countries. In Biomass Atlas you will find GIS data and maps of different biomass and land use types:

• multisource national forest inventory data describes biomass that is growing in forests
• forest chip potential
• field and crop areas
• crops and crop side streams
• manure of production animals
• biowaste from communities
• biodegradable waste from companies in scale that requires environmental authorization (VAHTI-database).

Field area, crops and waste data is updated yearly. Manure data is updated when needed, and forest data approximately in every five years. All the data in Biomass Atlas is described also in Finnish metadataportal for geodata, Paikkatietohakemisto.

Comparison of operating results of forestry operation in Switzerland. The network undertakes regular monitoring of many forest enterprises (ca. 30%) and elevates their market situation and a big set of economic data on a yearly basis. With these data, best practices guidance on competitive forest enterprises are elaborated and benchmarking approaches are outlined

The structural conditions are the main cause for the economic success. Unclear strategic positioning and operational deficiency are key factors for the resulting negative operating results in average, besides the high labor costs and small structured forestry operation

The TBN describes many economic, financial and structural indicators for 28% of the forest surface in Switzerland as a reference for benchmarks. Data and evaluations are available for the years 2008 – 2010, 2011 - 2013 and 2014 – 2018 of the participating forestry operation. Important factors and their influence on the operation results can be determined. Appropriate solutions for different situations and context can be found more easily

IT-based simulation (SorSim) for revenue estimation for single trees or tree stands. Modelling of the stem form, height, diameter at breast height (DBH) from tree species.  Supports decision makers in production- and utilization processes

SorSim is an IT based tool which allows to predict values on single tree-level and tree stands

SorSim allows an adequate calculation of the revenues of single trees and tree stands with the information’s of quality, quantity and the assortment. The information basis includes: tree species, tree age (height), stem-form

SiWaWa 2.0 is a simple developed new forest growth simulation model for practitioner (Android-App). SiWaWa needs only the number of the stems [N], the basal area per hectare [G] of a certain stand to generate separated the stem distribution curve according to the DBH-classes. SiWaWa 2.0 supports the decision makers in two aspects: Silvicultural and forest planning. It supports the foresters in a better understanding of the state point and forest development

Free available Android-App, which could be used in the following fields:
1. Strategy: Goal dimension of the trees, cutting time
2. Care concept: Coordination of harvesting time, optimization of productivity
3. Measurements: Urgency and priority
4. Analysis: Starting point and forest development without interventions. Definition of intervention measures and simulation

A practical tool intended to guarantee the survival of a sustainable and effective protective forest at a minimum cost. Based on the assumption that the state of the forest is crucial to its ability to provide effective protection against natural hazards, silvicultural requirement profiles are described for different forest locations and natural hazards This method gives an overview for every protection forest type, helps to clarify the management goal and shows the achieved management results. It makes them verifiable and simplify the discussion in the field of protective forest management for practitioners, authorities and academic staff Standard method to characterize protection forest’s needs and to manage them according to identical objective criteria. The management results are verifiable for the protection forest authorities. This method is used to improve the quality in protection forest management

Forest stand inventory with the aid of the Smartphones capabilities (App). Easy, cheap and reliable tool for determining the most important dendrometer indicators (key figures of tree stands). Suitable for single tree measurement or stand inventories

Smartphones can be used as a good referencing tool for forest inventories and forest operation planning. Many further application developments and integrations thinkable

Easy and fast implementation of forest inventories and single tree measurement.
Possible determination of the base area (m2/ha) with or without the distinction of different tree species. Trunk rate (#/ha), stand height (m/ha), reserve of rough wood (m3/ha)

The marteloscope plots have exact defined surfaces with each tree numbered and measured for long-term studies. Using software and mobile devices, the demo concept allows direct feedback on silvicultural decisions and related ecological and economic effects during training. Evaluation of different management strategies and their consequences can be objectively discussed by forest practitioners, authorities, decision makers, scientists or other interested groups directly on site. Silviculture is based on scientific principles. With well-documented observation plots and marteloscopes, we provide instructive visual and practice objects and also learn ourselves from their development. The aim is to preserve silvicultural knowledge and make it accessible for practice.

HeProMo is an IT-based tool to predict the costs of timber harvesting for different harvesting scenarios under different aspects such as harvester logging. It allows certain settings to reflect the real situations in the forest. It offers a big information yield in the fields of preliminary costing and sensitivity analysis

The productivity model (HeProMo) predicts quickly and with a good accuracy the costs for concrete timber harvesting scenarios. It allows the identification of optimization possibilities. The application is quite easy to handle and gives a solid basis for good economic choices

Estimation of productivity and cost for wood harvesting operations (preliminary costing). Writing and controlling of offers for wood harvesting operations. Estimation about of variables and their importance (sensitivity analysis). Well suitable for application in teaching, education and research to identify key contributing factors and assessment of their influence on the results

Sustainable development can only be advanced sucsessfully through cross-sectoral integration and cooperation. The new Austrian government structure is a clear and effective response to this challenge. Forest sector needs to play a central role in achieving the sustainable development goals. Government recently established a new Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism with responsibility for agriculture and forestry, environment and water management, energy and climate protection, regional development and tourism. Forestry like other sectors of land use and environment do not operate in isolation, they are close interlinked. Forest circumstances vary strongly from region to region and country to country. There is no one fits all solutions for forest issues. The Seven Pillars may need to be adjusted to the very different situations. However, in their essence they are fundamental and independent. Seven pillars #1 A clear commitment to sustainable forest management, which is a legal obligation #2 A solid legal framework providing for protection and sustainable management of all forests through clear property rights and tenure rules #3 Effective institutions for law enforcement #4 Forest management is fast evolving, therefore research development, education and training are crucial success factors #5 A balanced system of financial instruments from utilization, investments, taxes, subsidies and PES need to work together #6 Stakeholder involvement in forest policy development and implementation as like the Austrian Forest Dialogue ensures a broad interlinkage to forest policy deliberations #7 A smart forest information system, based on indicators for sustainable forest management by regular monitoring and assessment is needed for possible adjustments of the governance system