A. Maarit I. Kallio, Victor F. Strîmbu, Helle Gobakken, Terje Gobakken. (2025). Climate change mitigation through alternative uses of Norwegian forest resources. Silva Fennica vol. 59 no. 1 article id 23066. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.23066

Keywords: harvested wood products; forest sector; biofuels; greenhouse gas emissions; bioeconomy; carbon sink

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The carbon substitution and storage effects related to Norwegian forests and the forest sector were compared under three potential roundwood harvest scenarios: maintaining harvests at 2021 levels, increasing harvests by 20% due to policies aimed at maximizing economic benefits from the forest sector, and reducing harvests by 20% due to biodiversity concerns. For harvested wood products, both the current product structure and hypothetical alternatives were considered. The carbon stock development in forests was projected using a forestry simulation tool for Norway. Many uncertainties in carbon storage, substitution parameters, and data have been addressed using Monte Carlo simulations. Shifting a portion of pulpwood use to produce wood-based insulation materials and textile fibres was found to increase the climate benefits from the Norwegian forest sector. In contrast, the shift to bioethanol production had only a marginal effect compared to the current production structure. The analysis spanned the next two decades, which is a period relevant to the investment and operational lifespan of industrial facilities. The results suggest that during this time, smarter use of harvested roundwood for HWPs with high carbon substitution benefits can be an effective means of climate change mitigation. However, in the long term, enhancing forest carbon sinks by reducing harvests may be more beneficial for the climate, provided that global efforts to reduce emissions from energy production are successful and lead to a decrease in emissions associated with the production of various materials.

Kallio, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, P.O.Box 5003, NO-1432 Ås, Norway https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5393-761X E-mail: maarit.kallio@nmbu.no
Strîmbu, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, P.O.Box 5003, NO-1432 Ås, Norway https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0588-2036 E-mail: victor.strimbu@nmbu.no
Gobakken, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, P.O.Box 5003, NO-1432 Ås, Norway E-mail: helle.ross.gobakken@nmbu.no
Gobakken, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, P.O.Box 5003, NO-1432 Ås, Norway https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5534-049X E-mail: terje.gobakken@nmbu.no

Category : Research article

article id 24041, category Research article

Johanna Jetsonen, Annamari Laurén, Heli Peltola, Katariina Laurén, Samuli Launiainen, Marjo Palviainen. (2025). Volume growth responses of Scots pine and Norway spruce to nitrogen fertilization: quantitative synthesis of fertilization experiments in Finland. Silva Fennica vol. 59 no. 1 article id 24041. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.24041

Keywords: precipitation; growth response; mineral soils; site fertility

Highlights: Volume growth responses increased linearly with the applied nitrogen (N) dose up to 200 kg N ha^–1; Precipitation, site fertility, and time since fertilization affected the growth responses; Volume growth response to nitrogen fertilization was larger for Scots pine than for Norway spruce; Results can support planning of environmentally responsible and economically viable precision fertilization.

Abstract | Full text in HTML | Full text in PDF | Author Info

The effects of nitrogen (N) fertilization on tree growth have been studied widely in boreal forests in Finland, but a quantitative synthesis is still lacking. We performed a quantitative synthesis on volume growth responses to N fertilization in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) stands in experiments established on mineral soils across Finland. Our study employed findings of 9 published studies including 108 Scots pine and 57 Norway spruce observations covering a wide range of N fertilization treatments, as well as forest stand- and climatic conditions. Based on these observations, we built linear mixed models to describe the N fertilization-induced annual volume growth response of Scots pine and Norway spruce stands. Our models showed that the N dose was the best predictor for volume growth response, and the growth response increased linearly with increasing N dose for both tree species. The volume growth responses also increased along with an increase in mean annual precipitation. The annual volume growth response decreased with the time since fertilization. For Scots pine, the best model also contained site fertility; increase in site fertility increased the volume growth response. These findings emphasize the need for site-specific precision fertilization schemes to sustainably improve growth and carbon sequestration of boreal forests.

Jetsonen, Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 27, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland https://orcid.org/0009-0006-4878-8951 E-mail: johanna.jetsonen@helsinki.fi
Laurén, Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 27, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland; Faculty of Science and Forestry, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, 80101 Joensuu, Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6835-9568 E-mail: annamari.lauren@helsinki.fi
Peltola, Faculty of Science and Forestry, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, 80101 Joensuu, Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1384-9153 E-mail: heli.peltola@uef.fi
Laurén, Faculty of Science and Forestry, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, 80101 Joensuu, Finland; University of Helsinki, Faculty of Medicine, Haartmaninkatu 8, 00290 Helsinki, Finland https://orcid.org/0009-0009-4677-9826 E-mail: katariina.lauren@helsinki.fi
Launiainen, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Latokartanonkaari 9, 00790 Helsinki, Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6611-6573 E-mail: samuli.launiainen@luke.fi
Palviainen, Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 27, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9963-4748 E-mail: marjo.palviainen@helsinki.fi

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