A global strategy for forest utilization: mitigating climate change without unduly constraining utilization

The objective of the study was to outline a global scheme for furthering mitigation of climate change in the Managed Forest subsector of the Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry sector. The core of the study is an analysis of the emissions associated with the start-up of steady-state utilization of previously unutilized forest areas. Example forest growth curves are employed to demonstrate the dependence of the start-up emissions on the forest characteristics. In the case of fiber production, the start-up leads to an effective step-like increase in cumulative carbon dioxide (CO2) emission. In the case of biofuel production, a significant level of CO2 removal is attainable in the longer term, but, because of the start-up emission, there is usually an initial period of effective CO2 emission. The duration of this initial period has a strong dependence on the growth rate of the forest and the type of fossil fuel replaced. The results of the analysis were exploited in the compilation of a proposal for a global scheme aimed at mitigating climate change without unduly constraining forest utilization. In the scheme, increased forest utilization for the production of solid-wood products and fiber products would be penalized on the basis of the consumption of such products, while, in certain cases, increased forest utilization for biofuel production would be rewarded. Acceptable biofuel options were identified in the study. An example is the replacement of coal by wood chips originating from forest which has a growth rate at least as great as that of a typical boreal forest.