New flagship initiative Adaptive Forest Management and Biomass Production

1. New flagship initiativeAdaptive Forest Management and Biomass Production EUSBSR Priority Area Agri Forestry Workshop Helsinki 29 August 2013 Lars Andersson

2. Background The demand for forest biomass is expected to increase, while the state of the environment needs to be improved to be possible to achieve sustainable forestry. At the same time changes in climate affect the forest ecosystems in rather unpredictable ways. In other words, there is a need to future develop sustainable forest management methods, both to be able to increase biomass production and preserve and in some cases restore biological diversity, but also to adapt the forest ecosystem to a changing environment.

3. Background The learning process of Adaptive Forest Management is probably an effective way to introduce methods to adapt to these changing demands and the changing environment New initiatives should also contribute to the improvement of the profitability of sustainable forest management in the Baltic Sea region, with a particular focus on North-West Russia

4. Overall Aim Share experience and exchange best (good) practice on SFM, also incorporating the latest research findings Enhance bilateral as well as multilateral cooperation between the participating countries

5. Objective Improve transnational cooperation on SFM practices and cover the gap between research and practise in order to increase forest biomass production, improve the environment and adapt to climate change Improve cooperation between the priorities and horizontal actions of the EUSBSR - strong link to the HA sustainable development and bioeconomy

6. The frame for initiating the cooperation EFINORD: Work plan on biomass production and intensive forest management 2011-2015 Sweden: SFA mission from the government to elaborate on the model of adaptive forest management 2013-2015 Finland: Metla research program 2012-2016 ”Forest and silviculture in the future” Russia: State program of forestry development for the years 2012-2020 (new forest policy)

7. Adaptive forest management • A tool to increase knowledge and reduce ecological uncertainty • Formalized process of combining learning, stakeholder participation, experiments, monitoring, evaluation and policy development in an iterative process

8. Model for the iterative process in adaptive forest management • Initiation of process • Participation of stakeholders • Investigate legal conditions • Compilation of current knowledge • Planning • Implementation • Monitoring • Analysis and evaluation • Assess policy implications

9. Examples of identified activities • Continuous cover forestry • Harvesting of stumps and logging residues • Management for nature conservation • Vegetative propagation • Climate change adaptation • Forestry practices to increase forest yield: Forest fertilization, ditching and ditch network maintenance, short rotation forestry, fast growing tree species, clone forestry, using highly productive tree species, etc.

10. Initial shared responsebility • The Swedish Forest Agency (SFA) • The North European Regional Office of the European Forest Institute (EFINORD) • The Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla) Interest/participation from Russia: Federal Forest Agency, WWF-Russia, St. Petersburg Forest Research Institute

11. Activities 2013-2014 • Continue to develop the initiative • Find co-financing (seed money) • (Initiate a pre-study on profitability of forestry?) • BSR Workshop on adaptive forest management and biomass production • Initiate broader cooperation in the BSR • Develop concrete joint project proposals • Apply for funding (e.g. EU funds)

12. Adaptive Forest Management and Biomass Production For the work to be sucessfull, it needs a broad cooperation between forestry, research, government and other stakeholders