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Published February 7, 2019 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Spatial distribution of the potential forest biomass availability in Europe

Description

Background: European forests are considered a crucial resource for supplying biomass to a growing bio-economy
in Europe. This study aimed to assess the potential availability of forest biomass from European forests and its
spatial distribution. We tried to answer the questions (i) how is the potential forest biomass availability spatially
distributed across Europe and (ii) where are hotspots of potential forest biomass availability located?

Methods: The spatial distribution of woody biomass potentials was assessed for 2020 for stemwood, residues
(branches and harvest losses) and stumps for 39 European countries. Using the European Forest Information SCENario
(EFISCEN) model and international forest statistics, we estimated the theoretical amount of biomass that could be
available based on the current and future development of the forest age-structure, growing stock and increment and
forest management regimes. We combined these estimates with a set of environmental (site productivity, soil and
water protection and biodiversity protection) and technical (recovery rate, soil bearing capacity) constraints, which
reduced the amount of woody biomass that could potentially be available. We mapped the potential biomass
availability at the level of administrative units and at the 10 km × 10 km grid level to gain insight into the spatial
distribution of the woody biomass potentials.

Results: According to our results, the total availability of forest biomass ranges between 357 and 551 Tg dry
matter per year. The largest potential supply of woody biomass per unit of land can be found in northern Europe
(southern Finland and Sweden, Estonia and Latvia), central Europe (Austria, Czech Republic, and southern Germany),
Slovenia, southwest France and Portugal. However, large parts of these potentials are already used to produce
materials and energy. The distribution of biomass potentials that are currently unused only partially coincides
with regions that currently have high levels of wood production.

Conclusions: Our study shows how the forest biomass potentials are spatially distributed across the European
continent, thereby providing insight into where policies could focus on an increase of the supply of woody biomass
from forests. Future research on potential biomass availability from European forests should also consider to what
extent forest owners would be willing to mobilise additional biomass from their forests and at what costs the
estimated potentials could be mobilised.

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Additional details

Funding

TREES4FUTURE – Designing Trees for the future 284181
European Commission
S2BIOM – Delivery of sustainable supply of non-food biomass to support a “resource-efficient” Bioeconomy in Europe 608622
European Commission
OPERAS – Operational Potential of Ecosystem Research Applications 308393
European Commission
TECH4EFFECT – Techniques and Technologies for Effective Wood Procurement 720757
European Commission