Current status of research on the role of forests and forestry in carbon sequestration and storage in Poland

Current status of research
on the role of forests and forestry
in carbon sequestration and storage
in Poland
Michał Zasada, Tadeusz Moskalik
Warsaw University of Life Sciences-SGGW
Faculty of Forestry
Nowoursynowska 159
02-776 Warsaw, Poland
Michal.Zasada@wl.sggw.pl

Global Landscapes Forum, 16 November 2013, Warsaw, Poland

Introduction
• As the Kioto protocol party, Poland has joined the
international efforts to slow down climate change.
• A strategic goal of the country became the implementation
of the principles of sustainable development, including
expansion of the role of national forest and soil resources
in climate change mitigation.
• One of the important measures to achieve this goal is to
intensify the research on the level of carbon removal by
forest ecosystems and on the role of forest management
and forest operations in this area.

Why is the research needed?
• To know the process of biomass production and carbon
sequestration
• To describe the influence of various factors on the process
• To improve the inventory and reporting standards (e.g. in
the frame of „LULUCF and forestry”)
• To provide better knowledge for politicians and the
decision makers.


• Currently – following the IPCC Guidelines for National
Greenhouse Gas Inventories – Poland (as many other
countries) uses a set of numbers (wood volume, wood
density, stand productivities, expansion factors, various
coefficients) that are far from ideal
– usually approximate values coming from old volume tables, yield
tables or research – e.g. the amount of bark, roots, wood density,
…

• In addition to that calculations are based on the general
country-level data


• Bark
– 25% of the inside bark volume – based on old volume tables,
while it can be from 10 to 30, depending on species, age, density,
etc.

• Roots
– 0.17 (harvesting), 0.23 (conifers) , 0.32 (deciduous) – based on
the IPCC, while it can vary at least from 0.10 to 0.40 depending on
species, age and STOCKING level

• Wood density
– table with average values for major species, while it varies
significantly even for the same species


• Biomass expansion factors
– based in the general data and approximate (average) wood density,
while should be at least age-, site- and stocking-dependent

• Fraction of carbon in dry biomass
– 0.5 – based on the IPCC average, while it can vary at least from 0.47
to 0.52 depending on species, age, etc.

• Shrubs and other vegetation
• Dead wood and forest floor, decomposition rates
• Soils, SOC content
– Approximate mapping of Polish forest types to IPCC classes, IPCC
default values „modified by experts”

• …

Overview of Land Use, Land Use
Change and Forestry sector
(LULUCF) in EU. Giacomo Grassi.
Brussels, 28 January 2010

Current research related to the production of biomass and
CO2 sequestration conducted in Poland, especially in the
context of carbon-related reporting, as well as highlights
directions of their further development.


Polish „forest scientific network"

Polish institutions working on
carbon and biomass in forestry

Various
universitie
s and other
institutions

Examples of research
• Carbon balance in biomass of main forest tree species in
Poland (2007-2011)
• Estimation of CO2 streams exchanged between forest
ecosystems and atmosphere (2008-2011)
• Ecological consequences of the silver birch (Betula
pendula Roth.) secondary succession on abandoned
farmlands in central Poland (2010-2013)
• Wood as a renewable energy source (ongoing)
• …
• …

Carbon balance…


Carbon balance…
• 8 tree species (pine, spruce, fir, larch, oak, beech, birch,
alder), 12 shrub species
• almost 300 research sites, representing different age
classes and habitats, as well as economic meaning of
analysed tree species
• Aboveground and belowground biomass
• The use of remote sensing methods for biomass
estimation


Biomass of roots

fot. A.M. Jagodziński

Satellite and airborne images

Landsat TM – resolution 30 m

Ikonos MS – resolution 4 m

Ikonos Pan – resolution 1 m

Airborne image 1:26 000 (~0,5 m)

Estimation of CO2 streams…


Estimation of CO2 streams…
• Measurements of CO2 fluxes using eddy covariance
method over Tuczno forest in Poland


Eddy covariance method
• Method for measuring vertical turbulent fluxes within
atmosphere to determine exchange rates of gases over
various ecosystems, extensively used for verification and
tuning of climate and ecological models.

Eddy covariance system:
ultrasonic anemometer and
infrared gas analyser

Eddy covariance method


Olejnik et al. 2011. Estimation of net carbon exchange between the forest ecosystem and the atmosphere. Technical Report for Polish State Forests

Ecological consequences…


Ecological consequences…
• To model biomass of various pools (stem, branch, foliage)
and the total biomass of birch on post-agricultural lands
• To assess biomass dynamics (changes of biomass and
changes in allocation over time)


Changes in share of biomass components with age
80

%

70
60

I (1-3)

50

II (4-6)
III (7-10)

40

IV (>10)

30
20
10
0
Stem b.

Branch b.

Foliage b.

Root b.

Zasada M. et al. Biomass dynamics in silver birch stands on post-agricultural lands in Poland

Share of various components in age classes
100
90

%

80

Root b.

70

Foliage b.

60

Branch b.

50

Stem b.

40
30
20
10
0
I (1-3)

II (4-6)

III (7-10)

IV (>10)

Zasada M. et al. Biomass dynamics in silver birch stands on post-agricultural lands in Poland

Wood as a renewable energy…


Demand for energy


Technological problems

VTT 2004

Logistic problems

Timberjack Energy Technology


Energy efficiency
and carbon footprint
• Costs
• Energy consumption
• Energy balance
• CO2 emission
• CO2 balance
• …


International projects
EU-FORMIT
• FORMIT aims to develop forest management scenarios
for carbon sequestration in Europe, including
mitigation measures and management strategies for
different regions, and accounting for trade-offs with
other forest functions
• Mitigation encompasses carbon storage in forests,
carbon in forest products, and substitution of fossil
fuel. Stand and forest type estimates will be scaled up
to a European-wide assessment using available forest
inventory data


International projects
EU-FORMIT
• Based on current knowledge, the expected impact of
climate change on tree growth and forest functioning
will be assessed, accounting for site differences and
regional climate change.
• In quantifying and analysing the trade-offs between
carbon mitigation strategies and other forest functions,
we will involve a user panel with representatives of
major forest management agencies in Europe.
• The panel will also provide input for a multicriteria
analysis to identify consistent and flexible scenarios for
forest management.

Thank you for your attention
Questions? Comments?
Michal.Zasada@wl.sggw.pl


Current status of research on the role of forests and forestry in carbon sequestration and storage in Poland

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