A new study by the University of Eastern Finland has suggested that the way we use wood mitigate climate change. It also supports the economy.
Forests assume a vital job in the worldwide carbon cycle and add to climate change mitigation. Forests ingest carbon from the environment through photosynthesis and store the carbon in living biomass, dead wood, litter and soil.
When wood is collected, a lot of carbon is expelled from the Forest and would then be able to be put away for a considerable length of time in enduring wood items, for example, wooden houses and furniture. Up until this point, numerous examinations have concentrated on carbon put away in Forest, yet fewer investigations have concentrated on the job of wood items.
A new study intends to fill this gap in knowledge. The study analyzed and applied various methods and models in order to estimate the effects of wood use effects on climate change mitigation and to reveal the environmental, economic and even social effects of wood use.
The examination followed the streams of wood in Lithuania and the Czech Republic beginning from the forest through the wood handling industry until the point when the end products, with an accentuation on carbon conventional and atmosphere moderation impacts.
The outcomes demonstrate that traditional carbon bookkeeping strategies for reap wood items may prompt a huge underestimation of the carbon put away in wood items. The examination discovered that in a few nations, the yearly carbon spending plan in wood items is 40% higher when ascertained with a more definite technique.
According to the study, the effects of wood used can be strengthened only if substantial actions are taken to use more domestic wood for long-life wood products. If the use of wood is increased without restructuring wood production and consumption patterns, the effects on total forest carbon balance might be even negative.
Therefore, a holistic approach taking into account the whole supply chain and consumer behavior is needed. In other words, to enhance the climate change mitigation effect, demand should be oriented towards long-lived wood products, replacing other materials that require a lot of energy for their production.
However, the climate change mitigation effect was only positive when additionally harvested wood was used for products with long life-spans. Therefore, decisions on forest resources use should be considered carefully, while taking into account the possible positive and negative effects of increase wood use. Decision-making affecting the use of forest resources should increasingly consider cross-sectoral effects of wood product use and net impacts on the bioeconomy and global climate change mitigation.
The findings were originally reported in International Wood Products Journal, Forests, and Journal of Industrial Ecology.