EFINORD Work Plan Biomass production and intensive forest management

Transcription

1 EFINORD Work Plan Biomass production and intensive forest management Based on the workshop Building up the EFINORD agenda Biomass Production and Intensive Forest Management held 7-8 April 2011 in Stockholm North European Regional Office of European Forest Institute EFINORD Rolighedsvej Frederiksberg C Denmark Tel

2 Contents 1. Introduction The North European Regional Office of the European Forest Institute EFINORD Building up the EFINORD Work Plan in Biomass production and intensive forest management for The added value of EFINORD Structure of the EFINORD work plan EFINORD Work Plan Biomass production and intensive forest management I Policies and Markets... 5 Sub-theme - How will the markets for renewable energy and products develop in the Baltic Sea region? The role of forest biomass (Energy markets)... 5 Topics to be followed up during the work planning period Sub-theme Life Cycle Analysis... 6 Sub-theme Disseminating research results to policy... 6 II Methods, Environment and Multiple Use... 6 Sub-theme Developing science-based decision support... 6 III Technology... 8 Sub-theme Silviculture and new management regimes... 8 Topics to be followed up during the work planning period Sub-theme Common labour markets Sub-theme Development of demand IV Socio-economic Basis Sub-theme - Improved awareness and competence Annex: List of participants in the Workshop 7 8 April 2011, Stockholm... 14

3 2 1. Introduction 1.1 The North European Regional Office of the European Forest Institute EFINORD The North European Regional Office of the European Forest Institute EFINORD promotes forest research networking within the Nordic-Baltic Sea-North Atlantic region. The EFINORD network comprises currently about 30 partner organisations in the region, and it is an open network for new partners to join. The main aims of EFINORD are: to increase regional synergy within forest research by networking to expand the Nordic networks to the neighbouring regions, as well as to encourage North European forest researchers to take part in pan-european and international projects to promote research activities of North European relevance to initiate and facilitate communication of forest research Within the framework of sustainable forestry, the two thematic issues of EFINORD are: Biomass production and intensive forest management Ecosystem services In addition, three cross-cutting themes are incorporated in the work plan of EFINORD: Climate change Environmental economics Governance and policy The thematic issues of EFINORD are inside the scope of sustainable forest management, the key concept in the Selfoss Declaration signed by Nordic forest ministers in EFINORD collaborates and has joint activities with the Nordic Forest Research Cooperation committee SNS, the cooperation agency operating within and funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers. Furthermore, EFINORD is the Flagship umbrella for forest related projects in the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region Action Plan, advocating forest sector topics within the strategy. EFINORD homepage: Building up the EFINORD Work Plan in Biomass production and intensive forest management for Ideas for the EFINORD agenda for were elaborated during a Workshop on Biomass Production and Intensive Forest Management which was held in Stockholm-Arlanda 7 8 April The workshop participants represented the EFINORD network members, as well as key stakeholder organisations and administration at the national and regional level from Finland, Sweden, Norway,

4 3 Estonia, Latvia and Poland. The Workshop was jointly organized by EFINORD and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). Key notes presented the state-of-the-art and interesting examples of work ongoing, for example the potential for increased biomass production in Swedish Future Forests, the aspect of nature conservation and intensive forest management, and the challenges at European level, e.g. increasing demand for biomass in the EU, and competitiveness of the forest-based raw materials. Workshop presentations, as well as the list of participants, are available at the EFINORD website and further information on the work planning is available from the Head of Office Mr. Mika Mustonen (mika.mustonen at efi.int). 1.3 The added value of EFINORD EFINORD acts as an umbrella for networking activities within the theme. EFINORD facilitates capacity building through networking with the aim of more interaction between institutes and research teams and increased cooperation in the region. Networking does not replace the ongoing activities or resources, but EFINORD focuses activities where joining forces gives the network members concrete benefits. These benefits were discussed at the Stockholm workshop in April 2011: Joining forces gives us something that is bigger and better. The EFINORD network gives a wider view in the theme and brings added value for its members through: Synthesising of existing knowledge, Identifying gaps in our knowledge and initiating new research, and More efficient exchange of information. The EFINORD platform can play an active role in: creating research-consortia, joint publications, communication of forest research, and joint use of unique research facilities. The participating institutes benefit from EFINORD collaboration also through increased access of information and providing opportunities for international collaboration. EFINORD s main task is to work as a facilitator, to disseminate research results to the policy process and to raise awareness among decision makers. Activities carried out within the EFINORD platform can make a significant impact by Policy advice on a North European scale Acting as a unified voice of North European forest research in Europe 1.4 Structure of the EFINORD work plan A major part of the workshop in Stockholm-Arlanda was allocated for interactive sessions in small groups working on possible interesting sub-themes for the EFINORD work plan. Through three group sessions the participants looked into the topic first in a wide time horizon, and step-wise focused the EFINORD priorities for a plan for the next 5 years. The group work started with a World Cafe

5 4 brainstorming session on increased biomass production and intensive forest management and mapping out the developments in this field until 2050 under four sub-themes. Under each subtheme, several promising work topics were identified, and the workshop participants selected by voting the specific topics which were elaborated further as concrete cooperation activities during the workshop (see below the topics highlighted in Bold Blue). The other topics identified in the group works as important for cooperation within the EFINORD network are also recorded in this work plan. They will be followed up during the work planning period The EFINORD activities in Biomass Production and Intensive Forest Management during are: I Policies and markets 1. Energy markets (5 points) 2. Lify Cycle Analysis (research) 3. Disseminating research results to policy II Methods, environment and multiple use 1. Developing science-based decision support (4 points) III Technology (supply chain - tentative title, to be rephrased) 1. Silviculture and new management regimes (5 points) 2. Common labour market training: Human factor (1 point) 3. Development of demand (research collaboration) (3 points) IV Socio-economic basis 1. Improved awareness and competence (3 points) 2. Willingness of forest owners to manage their forests (1 point) 3. Social and political acceptance (0 points) Concrete actions will be joint research projects, networking and platforms for sharing information and research results between EFINORD member organizations, but also for targeting to the e.g. forest owners and other key stakeholders in biomass production and intensive forest management as well as policy and decision makers at national and European levels. Also the viewpoint of demand was raised, in other words, sharing information on what are the future needs and societies where forests and their products and services will contribute. The following chapter presents the activities elaborated in group works under each work plan subheading. The work plan will be updated and extended during the period

6 5 2. EFINORD Work Plan Biomass production and intensive forest management I Policies and Markets Sub-theme - How will the markets for renewable energy and products develop in the Baltic Sea region? The role of forest biomass (Energy markets) Justification According to the EU s Renewable Energy Strategy (RES), the share of renewable energy will be raised to 20% of the total energy consumption by In the future, a large part of the renewable energy may come from forest biomass. The EFINORD countries have large forest resources and there is a great potential of increasing forest production. Currently the EU member states depend heavily on energy imports from Russia. Scope Sub-theme 1 Market for renewable energy will be a research project. Demand and supply of forest raw materials for energy will be studied on a regional scale using scenario analysis and modelling. The FAO Forest Sector Outlook Study is used as a starting point. The study will also focus on the social acceptance of the consequences of the Renewable Energy Strategy. Thus, the study includes both a modelling exercise and horizon scanning (scenario analysis). The main goal of Markets for renewable energy is to investigate possible futures of supply and demand of wood energy on regional scales and their impacts on costs and competition for woody biomass. Partners The Finnish Forest Research Institute (METLA) will be the lead partner (antti.asikainen(at)metla.fi). METLA is an excellent modelling platform as it has the modelling tools available and can model the supply side on regional scales, end user points and capacities and costs of supply functions. Other interested participants are Future Forests, Metsäteho Oy, Birger Solberg, Latvia (LSFRI Silava) and Estonia. Other key participants who need to be involved are EFI (EFI-SYCLI), Poland, the University of Eastern Finland, Lithuania and the University of Hamburg. Resources Metla offers the modelling platform and guidance on using the tools. Future Forests has researchers active on modelling in the EFSOS study, who can be part of the work. Also EFI-SYCLI has been involved in the study and can be contacted. In the Future Forests project there are also social scientists studying the effects of RES implementation (acceptance of RES by

7 6 member countries). Furthermore, Future Forests has a study on the general public s attitude towards bioenergy related issues in Sweden and Germany (media discourse analysis). External funding will be applied from the EU or a Nordic call on bioenergy. Impact The results of Market for renewable energy will bring knowledge on who are the key players on the renewable energy market in the EFINORD region. This knowledge will be very useful for policy makers and the forest-based industry. Decisions about national governmental or EU subsidies depend on correct knowledge on the renewable energy market. Knowledge on the overall development of the renewable energy sector is needed in planning energy systems on local and regional scales. Topics to be followed up during the work planning period Sub-theme Life Cycle Analysis To be further elaborated: research project(s) on Life Cycle Analysis. Research need: LCA quality reviews Information provisioning on consumer choice why is wood more sustainable than fossil energy and products? Sub-theme Disseminating research results to policy To be further elaborated: activities to disseminate research results to policy making European commission needs information on how large the renewable energy resource from forests is. The EC would need this information in order to make a link between energy use and production of biomass. In other words, a supply demand balance for energy. EFINORD could be an information provider. All forestry and biomass related data should be compiled so it can be compared between countries. Databases to be compiled could include data on annual growth at national and also district level, when applicable. E-forest platform exists within Joint Research Centre within EU. The UNFCCC, in general, is a driver for intensive forest management, however, in the framework of Kyoto protocol and other implementations. II Methods, Environment and Multiple Use Sub-theme Developing science-based decision support Justification The development of decision support tools is highly needed to encourage forest owners to manage their forests in a proper and sustainable way. With the help of these tools forest owners can more

8 7 easily assess the benefits of intensified forest management which is important for e.g. the increasing demands for biomass production and carbon sequestration. Furthermore, these tools enable scientists, natural resource managers and planners of putting research results into practice and give information on the consequences of forest operations to the public and decision makers. Decision support tools enable better communication of research based information into practical forest management. Scope Developing science-based decision support aims to intensify networking in the development of forest management modelling tools. It aims to find synergies between ongoing modelling projects in different countries. The idea is that joint activities will bring synergies in forest management modelling projects. For example, new decision support tools could be developed based on synergies of forestry planning systems such as MELA and the MOTTI stand simulator in Finland, Heureka in Sweden and the new Norwegian evaluation system for carbon sequestration (in starting phase). Decision support tools could be developed for evaluating the impact of a large variety of individual management practices such as the effect of fertilisation, tree breeding (e.g. hybrid aspen) and planting of exotic tree species, as well as to evaluate the consequences of increased biomass production on carbon sequestration. Decision support tools can also be used for risks assessment such as for instance root rot, its effect on carbon sequestration and wind damages. The main goal of Developing science-based decision support is to create synergies in the development of decision support tools, regarding modelling work as well as the aim of improving information provisioning on which decisions can be based. Partners The following partners are interested in Developing science-based decision support : Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Finnish Forest Research Institute Norwegian University of Life Sciences Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland Networking meetings will be organised where the different projects meet. An important meeting to attend will be the Nordic Baltic Growth and Yield group in September in Tartu, Estonia. Jari Hynynen (jari.hynynen(at)metla.fi) takes the coordination of the next step. The topic will be further elaborated before the meeting in Tartu. Other teams and experts to be involved are: Estonian University of Life Sciences Annikki Mäkelä, University of Helsinki Seppo Kellomäki and Timo Pukkala, University of Eastern Finland Skogforsk, Sweden Karsten Raulund-Rasmussen, Forest&Landscape, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Marcus Lindner, EFI

9 8 Resources The strength of Developing science-based decision support lies in active collaboration through concerted action of the partners. EFINORD-SNS network call is an option for networking funds. No application was prepared for 2012 activities, and the next call will open in spring 2012 for 2013 activities. Impact The participating institutes will benefit from Developing science-based decision support through networking. The results will contribute to improved information provision for decision making for forest owners, forest managers and policy and decision makers. III Technology Sub-theme Silviculture and new management regimes Justification The EFINORD region is an important region for forest biomass production this is already an acknowledged fact at the European level. What is not so well know in the European policy making arena, is that there is potential for increasing biomass supply for the region, but also for the European and global needs. The last few decades, a lot of research has been done on this topic in the Baltic Sea Region but on the one hand, we do not know each other s work well enough in this region to be able to efficiently co-operate and optimally use the research resources. On the other hand, information on the results does not reach the target groups, such as forest owners, policy and decision makers. There is a need to share and promote the research what has already been done, but there are also needs to identify priorities for future work to be done (research, investigations, experiments, tests, assessments). Scope Three activities will be initiated during : 1) Publication; a state-of-the-art review containing country-wise information covering the whole EFINORD region: description of the present situation, a country-wise comparison of silvicultural and management methods, framework for establishing new management regimes; results of work already done (incl. experiments with species, plant material, intensification methods, fertilization, land-use efficiency), general basic information about the resources, forest ownership and legislation; in other words a larger framework for intensified forest management, and the limitations and restrictions for introducing more intensified methods in the participating countries. The aim is not only to make a review of the present state, but also to indicate where there is space for potential improvements (e.g. improvements in regeneration methods, genetic material and land use efficiency).

10 9 The publication will first be published as a scientific article where after material will be published as a more targeted version for policy and decision makers and forest owners. The latter mentioned will summarise the key messages and work as promotion material about the EFINORD region to show the region s importance and potential in supplying raw material in Europe. Schedule: publication ready by the autumn of 2011, so it could be published in parallel with the new EFSOS outlook, as a region-wise presentation. 2) The networking activity of EFINORD: meetings, workshops and knowledge platforms and other networking activities to share results between research teams on e.g. plant experiments, clone archives, land use efficiency experiments (agricultural land, forest land) and country-wise comparisons of traditional silviculture and the multifunctional use of forests. As well as meetings, promotion activities etc. to target the key stakeholders (such as industries, associations and forest owners) at national, EFINORD region and other relevant levels. Schedule: Funding for networking activities to be applied from the SNS next time by June ) A joint project: the project scope will be developed through the mapping exercise (joint publication) and networking activities. One possibility would be to repeat the study made in Sweden (projections would be made on the potential and risks of intensive forests management under different land-use approaches) in other EFINORD countries. Schedule: to be agreed, this step will follow after the first steps of mapping and promoting the region and involving a wider network. The main goal of the activities of Silviculture and new management regimes is to increase awareness of the potentials for biomass production in the EFINORD region, and to give a signal to the society that more investments are needed supporting intensive forest management and research in this theme. Another goal is to improve efficiency in networking, in other words to avoid overlapping work and spending resources for the same work in several countries. Partners The following participants and their organisations are committed to work for the activities in Silviculture and new management regimes : - Clas Fries, Swedish Forest Agency, Sweden - Andis Lazdins and Toms Zalitis, State Forest Research Institute Silava, Latvia - Hardi Tullus, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Estonia - Wojciech Gil, Forest Research Institute IBL, Poland - Tomas Lundmark, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden - Lars Johansson, Stora Enso Skog, Sweden Furthermore, forest faculties, forest research institutes in all countries need to be contacted and invited to contribute to this activity. Contributions and participation by private forest owners and state forest agencies will also be needed.

11 10 Lead partners and the key participants: 1) The publication (scientific article + popular publication): Tomas Lundmark (tomas.lundmark(at)slu.se) will draft the list of contents and an outline of the paper. Päivi Pelli checks grants for visiting researchers, Mika Mustonen checks the possibilities for NCM funding and the EFI and all partners check national possibilities for additional resources. Furthermore, Päivi Pelli checks similar publications/papers (e.g. the study by Timo Karjalainen for the Barents region). The core group for writing consists of one contact per country and a lead author coordinating the writing (e.g. for 6 months work). Some country representatives were missing from the group work, i.e. Finland (METLA), Norway (B. Solberg s team?), Lithuania, N-Germany, Scotland and the UK. These should be contacted. For basic information it is important to contact the national forest inventory contacts. Tomas checks the country contacts from the Swedish NFI. 2) SNS application for networking: Hardi Tullus (hardi.tullus(at)emu.ee) will draft an application to the SNS (with regard to the EFINORD project in Estonia). All partners will contribute to this project. For networking, and extending the activities to other organizations in EFINORD region also the forthcoming COST call will be checked and proposals under preparation e.g. in DK, SE, NO - in other words use the existing networks, contacts, and work ongoing. Furthermore key participants for the networking activities will be forest faculties, forest research institutes in all EFINORD countries and other stakeholders (e.g. forest owners, operators/contractors/wood purchasers, policy/decision makers, politicians). 3) Joint project: to be decided at later stage Resources 1) Publication: Tomas Lundmark and Mika Mustonen prepared an application to the Nordic Council of Ministers in July 2011, and NCM granted ca EUR for the writing work. To be checked can the review be published in a special issue in a publication series. Another possible forum to publish could be a COST Action (such as COST FP0902, contact at METLA; Dominik Röser). Otherwise the collection of information will base on contributions from the participating organizations: Information will be needed on work already done, results already gained, information already available from e.g. national experiments and research. 2) Networking: SNS (but also ongoing other networking activities, and a concerted action like the EFINORD workshop 7-8 April 2011). The EFINORD projects, e.g. the short rotation project in Estonia and Poland are seen as seed projects which will grow larger. 3) Joint project to be established later. Resources will be needed from both within network and external financing sources. Input from several countries is important.

12 11 Impact The results of these activities have an impact on policy making as well as the general public. The results will contribute to the EU and national policy making and bring important knowledge to be shared in national platforms and e.g. the UNECE/FAO forums. Topics to be followed up during the work planning period Sub-theme Common labour markets To be further elaborated: activities related to common labour markets in the EFINORD (Nordic- Baltic) region, in other words seeking means to better / more efficient use of labor for forestry sector, intensive forest management and use of biomass. Activities could include both research (e.g. technology solutions for diminishing labor unit cost per harvest, per m³, man-machine interaction development) and education/training activities (e.g. operator training, efficiency of using more or less same machinery in all EFINORD Nordic-Baltic joint training, joint measures) In the field of technology development, the niche for EFINORD cooperation could be in social / human aspects of technology, machinery etc. development. The technology development is too close of business/company s own activity, and companies are not willing to open this area for cooperation. Labor market questions would be more neutral ground for cooperation, and still a crucial issue for increased biomass utilization and production in this region. The topic will be further elaborated. The workshop in April 2011 noted that e.g. OSCAR network (centre of research for operating systems in forestry ) is already working within the thematic area as well as e.g. entrepreneurs and SMEs developing machinery and technical solutions. Sub-theme Development of demand To be further elaborated: activities related to investigation of long-term demand changes with regard to need for forest biomass. Activities could be sharing of results already gained in research work ongoing both in the EFINORD region and elsewhere, as well as carrying out new studies with special focus on how demand changes effect on the EFINORD region (e.g. models, calculations how to produce the needed raw material quantity and quality, and the role of EFINORD countries in supplying / fulfilling these needs not only domestically within the region but for other regions too). The demand-side developments are a common challenge for EFINORD region. There is already a considerable amount of work on supply side factors in biomass production and intensive forest management, but it is also important to understand the future prospects of what kind of needs and demands there will be in a long time horizon the technology solutions will then follow the definition of which needs are to be fulfilled, what kind of products/services are needed (incl. both raw materials and end-uses). The workshop in April 2011 noted that there are teams already working on this topic: e.g. investigations made in the framework of Future Forests programme and in the EffFibre. EFINORD added value could be to build on this work to see demand in a wider perspective, including global developments and challenges: what are the future needs, demand of future societies that forests (forest management) need to respond? Can we optimize / guide what kind of wood / forest would be needed, what kind of trees / forest do we need to plant today?

13 12 IV Socio-economic Basis Sub-theme - Improved awareness and competence In the group IV Socio-economic basis, the sub-theme was merged in the last group work phase from three basic sub-themes: Raised awareness and competence (3 points), Willingness of forest owners to manage their forests (1 point), and Social and political acceptance. Justification There is a need to show the people that increasing biomass production by more intensive forest management would be important to meet the future growing demand for energy and wood-based products in Europe. This is not only important for the forest-based sector but contributes to the well-fare of the whole society. The forest ownership structure is very unique in the Baltic Sea region as there is a relatively large share of private forest owners. For this reason, a large share of the wood-based products and services originates from privately-owned forests. Therefore, it's important that the general public, forest owners, stakeholders and decision makers have a good general level of understanding on forests and the functioning of the forest-based sector. For instance, it is important that forest owners formulate their own opinion and can make their own decisions regarding the management of their forests based on good knowledge. Learning about forest and their management will raise the willingness of forest owners to manage their forest. Furthermore, it would enable forest owners to see that they can earn income from their own forest by managing it in a proper and sustainable way. Increased biomass production from intensive forest management would also be important for reaching more general goals such as e.g. the EU targets of increasing the share of renewable energy to 20% of the total energy consumption by Increasing the share of renewable energy is important in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating the impacts of climate change. By providing information and knowledge, the general public and policy makers will better understand the advantages and need for biomass production and intensive forest management. This would enable people to distinguish between overly positive or negative messages in the media and gives them the opportunity to enhance their competence in forest related issues. A higher level of understanding and recognition of the need for increasing renewable energy and wood products will contribute to broader social and political acceptance of biomass production and intensive forest management. More intensive forest management would improve profitability of wood production thereby reducing the pressure on less-intensively managed forest land which would give more space for other forest functions such as recreation and conservation. More intensive forest management would also compensate the growing demand for biomass imports from outside Europe, making Europe less dependent on wood and energy imports and more self-sufficient.

14 13 Scope Improved awareness and competence will be a networking activity. This includes organising information events, e.g. courses and workshops for forest owners, graduate students, stakeholders and decision makers who are dealing with forest issues or related subjects. In the past there have been similar activities and one successful example is the Forest Academy for Decision Makers ( which was organised by the Finnish Forest Association. The aim of the Forest Academy was to strengthen the participants abilities to understand and utilize the multiple potentials related to forests in support of societal development. Improved awareness and competence aims at contributing to: Increasing the critical mass of the general public, stakeholders and decision makers Increasing the capacity and resources for the forest sector Increasing cooperation in the region Exchange of information and more interaction between researchers, stakeholders and the general public The main goal of the activity is to serve as a framework for the whole Baltic Sea Region; to have a strong and unified voice for the Baltic Sea Region which would be of great significance in EU decision making. Partners The workshop participants did not identify concrete partners for the project yet but agreed that most organisations in the forests sector and related sectors would be interested in this activity. EFINORD (mika.mustonen(at)efi.int) will be the lead partner coordinating the activity and other key participants could come for instance from universities, research institutes, forest industry, forestsector related organisations and companies (e.g. related to recreation, environment, conservation, climate change, reindeer husbandry). To increase the impact of this networking activity high priority should be given to involve politicians and decision makers at the national and regional level. Resources The EFI together with the host organisations organising the events will arrange resources and funding for particular activities such as workshops, courses and seminars. This should be discussed at a later stage in more detail for each separate activity to be organised. External funding can be applied for instance from SNS and other foundations. Furthermore, small contributions can be made by the participants of the activities. Impact The results of these activities will benefit the whole forest-based sector and the society in general. The activities will contribute to better information and more efficient ways of sharing knowledge in the forest-based sector which will be a step forward to improved and knowledge-based policy making.

15 14 Annex: List of participants in the Workshop 7 8 April 2011, Stockholm 1. Asikainen Antti, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Finland 2. Brunner Andreas, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway 3. Den Herder Michael, European Forest Institute 4. Fries Clas, Swedish Forest Agency, Sweden 5. Gil Wojciech, Forest Research Institute, Poland 6. Gustafsson Lena, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden 7. Hynynen Jari, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Finland 8. Johansson Lars, Stora Enso Skog, Sweden 9. Järvinen Erno, The Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners, Finland 10. Källman Stefan, Ministry for Rural Affairs, Sweden 11. Larsson Mårten, Skogsindustrierna, Sweden 12. Lazdinš Andis, Latvian State Forest Research Institute Silava, Latvia 13. Linder Sune, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden 14. Lundmark Tomas, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden 15. Moen Jon, Umeå University, Sweden 16. Mustonen Mika, European Forest Institute EFINORD 17. Nilsson Urban, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden 18. Nordin Annika, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden 19. Paavilainen Leena, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Finland 20. Pajuoja Heikki, Metsäteho Oy, Finland 21. Pelli Päivi, European Forest Institute 22. Raitio Hannu, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Finland 23. Rajala Pekka T., Stora Enso Wood Supply Finland/Russia, Finland 24. Saarenmaa Liisa, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Finland 25. Tullus Hardi, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Estonia 26. Vestlund Ekerby Karin, LRF Skogsägarna, Sweden 27. Wikström Ulf, INTERACT Point Turku, Finland 28. Zalitis Toms, Latvian State Forest Research Institute Silava, Latvia