Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Conducting sustainability impact assessments of forestry-wood chains: examples of ToSIA applications

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
European Journal of Forest Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Within the EFORWOOD project, new methodological approaches to assess the sustainability impacts of forestry-wood chains (FWC) were developed by using indicators of environmental, social and economic relevance. This paper introduces and discusses the developed approach and the two main products developed in the EFORWOOD project: the Database Client and the Tool for Sustainability Impact Assessment (ToSIA), which hold, calculate and integrate the extensive information and data collected. Sustainability impact assessment (SIA) of FWCs is based on measuring and analysing environmental, economic and social indicators for all of the production processes along the value chain. The adoption of the method varies between applications and depends on the specification of the FWC in the assessment and what questions are studied. ToSIA is very flexible and can apply forest-, product-, industry- and consumer-defined perspectives. Each perspective influences the focus of the analysis and affects system boundaries. ToSIA can assess forest value chains in different geographical regions covering local, regional, national and up to the continental scale. Potential issues and scenarios can be analysed with the tool including, for example, the impacts of different forest policies on the sustainability of an FWC. This paper presents how ToSIA can be applied to solve such diverse problems and underlines this with examples from different case studies. Differences in chain set-up, system boundaries and data requirements are highlighted and experiences with the implementation of the sustainability impact assessment methods are discussed. The EFORWOOD case studies offer valuable reference data for future sustainability assessments.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barnden R (2007) Pulp production in the Americas—all eyes move South. Paper Age 123:24–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Berg S (ed) (2008) EFORWOOD Deliverable PD0.0.16: manual for data collection for Regional and European cases—UPDATE, 3 Sep 2008. Skogforsk, Uppsala

  • Burke L, Logsdon JM (1996) How corporate social responsibility pays off. Long Range Plan 29:495–502

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charnley S (2006) Industrial plantation forestry: do local communities benefit? J Sustain For 21:35–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cruz LB, Boehe DM (2008) CSR in the global marketplace: towards sustainable global value chains. Manage Decis 46:1187–1209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dias AC, Arroja L, Capela I (2007) Life cycle assessment of printing and writing paper produced in Portugal. Int J Life Cyle Assess 12:521–528

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Finnveden G, Hauschild MZ, Ekvall T, Guinée J, Heijungs R, Hellweg S, Koehler A, Pennington D, Suh S (2009) Recent developments in life cycle assessment. J Environ Manage 91:1–21

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • González-García S, Berg S, Feijoo G, Moreira MT (2009) Environmental impacts of forest production and supply of pulpwood: Spanish and Swedish case studies. Int J Life Cycle Assess 14:340–353

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guinée J (ed) (2002) Handbook on life cycle assessment—operational guide to the ISO standards. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • Haberl H, Fischer-Kowalski M, Krausmann F, Weisz H, Winiwarter V (2004) Progress towards sustainability? What the conceptual framework of material and energy flow accounting (MEFA) can offer. Land Use Policy 21:199–213

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindner M, Suominen T, Palosuo T, Garcia-Gonzales J, Verweij P, Zudin S, Päivinen R (2010) ToSIA—A tool for sustainability impact assessment of forest-wood-chains. Ecol Model 221:2197–2205

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakicenovic N, Swart R (eds) (2000) Special report on emissions scenarios. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Ness B, Urbel-Piirsalu E, Anderberg S, Olsson L (2007) Categorising tools for sustainability assessment. Ecol Econ 60:498–508

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nie Y, Ji C, Yang H (2010) The forest ecological footprint distribution of Chinese log imports. For Policy Econ 12:231–235

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Päivinen R, Lindner M (2008) Assessment of sustainability of forest-wood chains. In: Cesaro L, Gatto P, Pettenella D (eds) The multifunctional role of forests—policies, methods and case studies. EFI Proceedings 55. European Forest Institute, Joensuu, pp 153–160

  • Päivinen R, Lindner M, Rosén K, Lexer MJ (2011) A concept for assessing sustainability impacts of forestry-wood chains. Eur J For Res. doi:10.1007/s10342-010-0446-4

  • Prokofieva I, Lucas B, Thorsen BJ, Carlsen K (2010) Deliverable D1.5.6. Monetary values of environmental and social externalities for the purpose of cost-benefit analysis in the EFORWOOD project. EFORWOOD deliverable report. Forest Technological Center of Catalonia (CTFC), Solsona

  • Swedish Forest Agency (2009) Swedish statistical yearbook of forestry 2009. Skogsstyrelsen, Jönköping

    Google Scholar 

  • Tscherning K, König B, Schößer B, Helming K, Sieber S (2008) Ex-ante impact assessments (IA) in the European commission—an overview. In: Helming K, Pérez-Soba M, Tabbush P (eds) Sustainability impact assessment of land use changes. Springer, Berlin, pp 17–33

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Uthes S, Fricke K, König H, Zander P, van Ittersum M, Sieber S, Helming K, Piorr A, Müller K (2010) Policy relevance of three integrated assessment tools—a comparison with specific reference to agricultural policies. Ecol Model 221:2136–2152. doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2009.08.010

    Google Scholar 

  • Wackernagel M, Rees W (1996) Our ecological footprint: reducing human impact on the earth. New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island

    Google Scholar 

  • Walter C, Stützel H (2009) A new method for assessing the sustainability of land-use systems (II): Evaluating impact indicators. Ecol Econ 68:1288–1300

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weaver PM, Jordan A (2008) What roles are there for sustainability assessment in the policy process? Int J Innov Sustain Dev 3:9–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wenzel H (1998) Application dependency of LCA methodology: key variables and their mode of influencing the method. Int J Life Cycle Assess 3:281–288

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Werhahn-Mees W, Garcia-Gonzalo J, Palosuo T, Röser D, Lindner M (2010) Sustainability impact assessment of increasing resource use intensity in forest bioenergy production chains. Glob. Change Biol Bioenergy. doi:10.1111/j.1757-1707.2010.01068.x

  • Wiedmann T, Lenzen M, Turner K, Barrett J (2007) Examining the global environmental impact of regional consumption activities—Part 2: review of input-output models for the assessment of environmental impacts embodied in trade. Ecol Econ 61:15–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolfslehner B, Lexer MJ, Rammer W, Becker G, Vötter D, Bölle V, Brüchert F (2008) Evaluierung der Nachhaltigkeit von Wald-Holz-Ketten. AFZ-Der Wald 63:469–471

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolfslehner B, Brüchert F, Fischbach J, Rammer W, Becker G, Lindner M, Lexer MJ (2011) Exploratory multi-criteria analysis in sustainability impact assessment of forest-wood chains: the example of a regional case study in Baden–Württemberg. Eur J For Res. doi:10.1007/s10342-011-0499-z

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the European Commission (FP6) through the EFORWOOD project (Project no. 518128). We would like to thank numerous project partners for the fruitful cooperation in the different ToSIA applications. A large number of EFORWOOD experts contributed in different ways to the work outlined in this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. European Forest Institute (EFI), Torikatu 34, 80100, Joensuu, Finland

    Marcus Lindner, Wendelin Werhahn-Mees, Tommi Suominen, Diana Vötter, Sergey Zudin, Matias Pekkanen & Risto Päivinen

  2. Institute of Forest Ecosystem Research (IFER), Strašice 299, 33845, Strašice, Czech Republic

    Martina Roubalova & Petr Kneblik

  3. Forstliche Versuchs- und Forschungsanstalt Baden-Württemberg (FVA), Wonnhaldestraße 4, 79100, Freiburg, Germany

    Franka Brüchert

  4. Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Science (SLU), Skogsmarksgränd, 901 83, UMEÅ, Sweden

    Erik Valinger

  5. FCBA Institut Technologique, 10 Avenue de Saint-Mandé, 75012, Paris, France

    Ludovic Guinard

  6. Forest Research, Roslin, Midlothian, EH25 9SY, UK

    Stefania Pizzirani

Authors
  1. Marcus Lindner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Wendelin Werhahn-Mees
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Tommi Suominen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Diana Vötter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Sergey Zudin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Matias Pekkanen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Risto Päivinen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Martina Roubalova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Petr Kneblik
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Franka Brüchert
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Erik Valinger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Ludovic Guinard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Stefania Pizzirani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marcus Lindner.

Additional information

Communicated by T. Seifert.

This article originates from the context of the EFORWOOD final conference, 23–24 September 2009, Uppsala, Sweden. EFORWOOD—Sustainability Impact Assessment of Forestry-wood Chains. The project was supported by the European Commission.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lindner, M., Werhahn-Mees, W., Suominen, T. et al. Conducting sustainability impact assessments of forestry-wood chains: examples of ToSIA applications. Eur J Forest Res 131, 21–34 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-011-0483-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-011-0483-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation