Sustainable production systems for bioenergy: Impacts on forest resources and utilization of wood for energy

摘要

Forests are a key natural resource, able to help satisfy many human wants, including material needs such as wood, paper and other forest products, environmental needs such as clean water, protection against soil erosion and mitigation of climate change, and socio-economic needs such as employment, wealth creation, and recreation. In order to provide these and other benefits without interruption or eventually declining output, forests must be managed for sustainable production of all values, economic, environmental and social. One potentially valuable byproduct from conventional forestry systems producing wood for construction or pulp and paper is biomass for energy. In some parts of the industrialized world, forests have become more valuable for non-consumptive uses such as recreation, aesthetics and environmental protection than for material products, and conservation and preservation policies have resulted in excessive build-up of unproductive forest biomass, distorting the impact of natural ecosystem processes such as fire and insect outbreaks. Removing excess biomass can restore the balance and natural sustainability of the ecosystem and provide feedstock for energy systems, but poses economic, environmental and socio-political challenges. A workshop of IEA Bioenergy Task 31 in 2003 addressed some of these challenges and related issues.