Publications

Preservation of biodiversity and reduction of deforestation are considered as key elements when addressing an increased use of bioenergy in the future. This paper presents different combinations of scenarios for global feedstock supply for the production of bioenergy under specified social and environmental safeguard provisions. The objectives of this study were threefold: a) to present a global perspective using an integrated modeling approach; b) to frame the boundaries for lower scale assessments; and c) to identify potential trade-offs to be considered in future research. The aggregate results, achieved through the application of an integrated global modeling cluster, indicate that under a high global demand for bioenergy by mid-century, biomass will to a large extent be sourced from the conversion of unmanaged forest into managed forest, from new fast-growing short-rotation plantations, intensification, and optimization of land use. Depending on the underlying scenario, zero net deforestation by 2020 could be reached and maintained with only a minor conversion of managed forests into other land cover types. Results further indicate that with rising populations and projected consumption levels, there will not be enough land to simultaneously conserve natural areas completely, halt forest loss, and switch to 100% renewable energy. Especially in the tropical regions of the southern hemisphere, it will be important to achieve a controlled conversion from unmanaged to sustainably managed forest as well as increased protection of areas for ecosystems services such as biodiversity. The study concludes with the recommendation to focus on targeted regional policy design and its implementation based on integrated global assessment modeling.

Currently, the use of a mix of renewable and traditional energy sources is deemed to help in solving increasing energy demands and environmental issues, thus making it particularly important to assess the availability of renewable energy sources.In a heavily forested region, such as the Italian Alps, one of the main renewable energy sources is woody biomass.A reliable evaluation of biomass availability must take into account the local management of forest resources and the ability to reach forest areas, which is related to existing road networks, and the characteristics and morphology of the terrain.We have developed a new methodology to estimate forest biomass availability for energy production in the Alpine area and to support management decisions, combining the morphological features of the mountain landscape with the current capabilities of forest technology. The approach has been implemented in a tool for forest biomass evaluation based on the Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) framework and to refine the current estimates made by the local government.The methodology was tested on the forests of Trentino province (Italy), providing an accurate evaluation of biomass availability, which can be effectively used to identify possible locations for biomass power plants and to suggest new forest management guidelines.The methodology, combining GRASS, PostgreSQL and PostGIS, can be applied to a wide area and can also be executed as a new GRASS module. Being open source it is already available for testing and development.

Quantum computing offers unique solutions applying tools of quantum physics, which are incomparably numerous than those of classical physics. Although quantum computers are the possible application of the far future, a few algorithms are already available for solving problems otherwise difficult to handle with traditional computers. Recently the telecommunication requires large amount of data transfer via satellites. An interesting way of dealing with this problem might be using quantum communication.

Forest ecosystems provide a variety of goods as it is, for example, firewood, technical timber, fruits and roots of plants. They also accord important indirect benefits, as is flood protection and atmospheric pollution reduction. Despite their importance, they face systematically the danger of shrinkage in many parts of the planet. To face this problem, this paper describes all the phases for the development of an Expert System that provides consultation for Forest Management Planning and for the reduction of the Wildfire Destruction Danger. Its implementation makes use of a Fuzzy Logic, for the handling of uncertainty, and a rule-based knowledge base. The software developed has carefully tested and evaluated by three distinct groups of users, including potential end-users, with satisfactory results.

Forest planning in a participatory context often involves multiple stakeholders with conflicting interests. A promising approach for handling these complex situations is to integrate participatory planning and multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA). The objective of this paper is to analyze strengths and weaknesses of such an integrated approach, focusing on how the use of MCDA has influenced the participatory process. The paper outlines a model for a participatory MCDA process with five steps: stakeholder analysis, structuring of the decision problem, generation of alternatives, elicitation of preferences, and ranking of alternatives. This model was applied in a case study of a planning process for the urban forest in Lycksele, Sweden. In interviews with stakeholders, criteria for four different social groups were identified. Stakeholders also identified specific areas important to them and explained what activities the areas were used for and the forest management they wished for there. Existing forest data were combined with information from interviews to create a map in which the urban forest was divided into zones of different management classes. Three alternative strategic forest plans were produced based on the zonal map. The stakeholders stated their preferences individually by the Analytic Hierarchy Process in inquiry forms and a ranking of alternatives and consistency ratios were determined for each stakeholder. Rankings of alternatives were aggregated; first, for each social group using the arithmetic mean, and then an overall aggregated ranking was calculated from the group rankings using the weighted arithmetic mean. The participatory MCDA process in Lycksele is assessed against five social goals: incorporating public values into decisions, improving the substantive quality of decisions, resolving conflict among competing interests, building trust in institutions, and educating and informing the public. The results and assessment of the case study support the integration of participatory planning and MCDA as a viable option for handling complex forest-management situations. Key issues related to the MCDA methodology that need to be explored further were identified: 1) the handling of place-specific criteria, 2) development of alternatives, 3) the aggregation of individual preferences into a common preference, and 4) application and evaluation of the integrated approach in real case studies.

Forest management planning is facing new objectives and diversified data sources. To succeed in the new context, a forest management planning framework should support integration of the new goals, knowledge, and technology as well as embrace multiple scales. The aim of the SIMO framework is to develop a hierarchical, extendable simulation and optimization framework for forest management planning. Current implementation includes a forest growth and yield simulator which is adaptable with respect to the components of a simulation; data, growth and operation models that modify the data, and the control structures between the data and the models. The simulation framework components implemented in XML include the hierarchical structures for data and simulation descriptions, and an extendable model base. To achieve flexibility and reusability, the components are connected through a common ontology, again defined in XML. The article includes two use cases demonstrating the adaptability of the simulation framework, which is available as open source software.

This paper provides a review of research contributions on forest management and planning using multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) based on an exhaustive literature survey. The review primarily focuses on the application aspects highlighting theoretical underpinnings and controversies. It also examines the nature of the problems addressed and incorporation of risk into forest management and planning decision making. The MCDM techniques covered in this review belong to several schools of thought. For each technique, a variety of empirical applications including recent studies has been reviewed. More than 60 individual studies were reviewed and classified by the method used, country of origin, number and type of criteria and options evaluated. The review serves as a guide to those interested in how to use a particular MCDM approach. Based on the review, some recent trends and future research directions are also highlighted.

Besides protected areas multi-functionally managed forests play an important role in the effort to maintain biodiversity, particularly in areas of intensive historical and current land use. The integration of biodiversity issues under the umbrella of sustainable forest management (SFM) is thus vital to achieve conservation goals. A major challenge for SFM is climate change, and science-based assessment and decision support frameworks are required to address climatic uncertainties in management planning. In this contribution we address issues of biodiversity in the context of a climate change vulnerability assessment framework for 164,550 ha of mountain forests managed by the Austrian Federal Forests (AFF). The principal tools applied to study climate–forest–management interactions and their implications for the multiple objectives of SFM were the ecosystem model PICUS v1.4, multi-criteria analysis and a stakeholder dialogue with the AFF. With this study framework as an example, our objective was to highlight the role of biodiversity within climate change vulnerability assessment of SFM. We found only limited climate sensitivity of SFM biodiversity indicators, compared to production-oriented aspects, as a result of strong management-mediated controls on forest structure and composition. Consequently, overall SFM climate vulnerability was decreasing in the assessment framework with increasing preference weight on biodiversity. However, the role and effect of biodiversity within the multi-indicator assessment framework differed strongly over elevation belts. Our analysis highlights (i) the importance of a realistic consideration of management in assessing biodiversity under SFM; (ii) the need for a concise definition of goals and thresholds for biodiversity conservation in managed forests; (iii) the importance of the local context in defining and interpreting indicators; and (iv) the relevance of an integrated assessment of dynamically interacting processes and indicators, such as disturbances, management and biodiversity.

Forest management planning is generally a complicated task. The amount of data, information and knowledge involved in the management process is often overwhelming. Decision support systems can help forest managers make well documented decisions concerning forest management planning. These systems include a wide variety of components, depending on the management goals of the forested land. Although an increased growth of decision support systems in specific domains of forest management planning exists, there is no special design model for the deployment of forest management planning. To this direction, this paper has the following objectives: Firstly, to propose a conceptual design model for developing goal-driven forest management planning decision support systems. Secondly, to apply the design model for a particular case of these systems, the wildfire risk reduction decision support systems. Thirdly, to present the deployment of a wildfire risk reduction decision support system as well as its results for a specific forest area.

Addressing forest sustainability requires negotiation and integration of individual forest management plans of multiple small non-industrial forest owners (NIPF). Recently, Portuguese forest policy prescribed the creation of Areas for Forest Intervention (AFI/ZIF)—forest areas encompassing at least 1 × 103 ha and 50 NIPF—to address those requirements. Yet, the development of forest management plans for AFI is targeting multiple objectives in the framework of multiple-ownership. This is not trivial as conflict is prone to arise and negotiation is needed to satisfy individual and collective goals and constraints. This paper is prompted by the need to identify methods and tools that may be used to support forest management planning in the framework of an AFI. Emphasis is on the need of specific tools and methods that can support AFI management planning, in order to mitigate conflicts and achieve a consensual plan. This paper thus presents a review of methods and tools used to support group decision-making in forest management planning. It further discusses the potential of hybrid approaches for collaborative planning that may take advantage of the integrated functionality of both quantitative and qualitative decision support methods and tools.