The IBC-CARBON project investigates the possibilities of forest planning and management to reconcile different objectives of sustainable forest use, such as carbon sequestration, maintenance of biodiversity, and timber and bienergy production. Potential measures include expanding the area of protected forests, lengthening rotations and thinning intervals or favouring mixed and uneven-aged stands. When weighing the effects of different methods, we also have to look at how different forestry treatments should be targeted on different forests. For example, are there some types of forest vegetation or some geographic areas where forest protection or changes in rotation length would be particularly beneficial for biodiversity and / or carbon sequestration?
WP1 develops quantitative tools and models to finds answers to questions like those described above across Finland. We will use the growth and carbon budget model PREBAS developed at the Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki. The model describes growth as a function of weather, site fertility and forest management, so it is well suited for the analysis of climate climate change and forest manament impacts. So far the model has only been parameterised for even-aged stands treated with standard forest management.
In this project, PREBAS will be further developed to apply to unmanaged, old-growth and uneven-aged stands. Jointly with WP2, we will transform selected model outputs to biodiversity indicators that can be used for assessing ecosystem services. We will collaborate with WP3 to develop a method for calculating the change in radiative forcing caused by forest management. The new features of the model developed in this project will be tested against data from jointly selected measurement sites, and the model will be applied to a complete watershed area with WP3. The testing will also utilise remote sensing data provided by WP4.
We will apply the PREBAS model to country-wide projections that utilise multisource forest inventory data as input initial state (collaboration with Luke) and selected climate change scenarios for weather (collaboration with Finnesh Meteorogical Institute). The projections will compare different forest management options to be defined together with stake holders. Simulations will also be carried out for WP5 and WP6 to be used in their economic calculations and assessment of ecosystem services and land use change.