Abstract
Accounting harvested wood products and their trade as an integral part of thecarbon cycle of a managed forest is achallenging task. Nevertheless, an appropriate way is especially needed nowthat harvested wood products may be includedin Article 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol. The adoption of a method for accountingfor these flows in the IPCC guidelines mayhave implications for the trade of wood products and thus on global forestmanagement.Four methods of accounting for wood products in an international perspective areanalyzed in the present study. The aimis to obtain insight in the technical and policy implications of the proposedmethods. These methods include the presentdefault IPCC method and three alternatives: flow consumption, flow production,and stock change. All fourmethodologies are applied to the 1990 data of Gabon, Sweden, and TheNetherlands.The impact of accounting for wood products using alternative methods has –in some cases – a large impact on the carbonbalance of the Land Use Change and Forestry (LUCF) sector. In the case of TheNetherlands, it was found that theLUCF carbon balance could be `converted' from a sink into a source dependingon the method chosen. However,the LUCF sector is very small compared to the total national carbon balancein The Netherlands. In Sweden, a countrywhere the forest sector plays an important role, the alternative wood productmethods influence the total nationalcarbon balance by 34%. In Gabon, a country with conversion forestry,the impact of alternative wood productmethods hardly influences the LUCF carbon balance because the emissions fromdeforestation are very large.The accounting method may have a large impact on the way countries regardtheir trade in wood products. It may bepossible for countries to buy a sink through the wood products trade, byimporting products faster than they decomposedomestically. In the case of Gabon with its conversion forestry (the changefrom forest into other types of land use, like agriculture,it was foundthat under the flow consumption method,this country can partly export the carbon sources resulting fromnonsustainable forest management. Nor is this lattermethod consistent with the energy chapter of the IPCC guidelines. The stockchange method seems to be a suitablemethod, combining precise accounting and simplicity. This method is also anincentive for the use of wood in long-lifeproducts and bioenergy, and for sustainable forest management.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Apps, M. J., Karjalainen, T., Marland, G., and Schlamadinger, B.: 1997, Accounting Systems Considerations: CO 2 Emissions from Forests, Forest Products, and Land Use Change - A Statement from Edmonton, Manuscript, p. 6.
Buongiorno, J. and Manurung, E. G. T.: 1992, ‘Predicted Effects of an Import Tax in the European Community on International Trade of Tropical Timbers’ J.World For. Res. Manage.6, 117–137.
Burschel, P., Kürsten, E., Larson, B. C., and Weber, M.: 1993, ‘Present Role of German Forests and Forestry in the National Carbon Budget and Options to its Increase’ Water Air Soil Pollut. 70, 325–340.
Chou, J. J. and Buongiorno, J.: 1984, ‘Demand Function for United States Forest Products Exports to the European Union Community’ Wood Fiber Sci. 16, 158–168.
Draper, N. A. G.: 1985, ‘Exports of the Manufacturing Industry, an Econometric Analysis of the Significance of Capacity’ De Econ. 133, 285–305.
Eriksson, H.: 1991, ‘Sources and Sinks of Carbon Dioxide in Sweden’ Ambio 20, 146–150.
FAO: 1991, Forest Products: The Direction of Trade 1985-1989. Vol. 1. Roundwood, Sawnwood, Woodbased Panels. Vol. 2. Wood Pulp, Paper and Paper Board, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 2 Vols., p. 306 and p. 123.
FAO: 1993, Forest Resources Assessment 1990, Tropical Countries, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO Forestry Paper 112, Rome, Italy, p. 59 + App.
FAO: 1995a, FAO Yearbook: Forest Products, FAO For. Ser. No. 28, FAO, Rome, p. 422. An updated version of the database can be found at FAOSTAT http://www.fao.org
FAO: 1995b, Forest Resources Assessment 1990, Global Synthesis, FAO Forestry Paper 124, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, p. 46 + App.
FAO: 1998, Forest Products Yearbook, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome.
FAO: 1999, State of the World' Forests 1997, FAO, Rome, p. 200.
Ford-Robertson, J.: 1999, Implications of Carbon Accounting Methods for Harvested Wood Products in New Zealand, Contract Report for the New Zealand Forest Industries Council.
Gjesdal, S. F. T., Rosendahl, K. E., and Rypdal, K.: 1997, A Balance of Use of Wood Products in Norway, Report 98:05, Norwegian Pollution Control Authority and Statistics Norway, Oslo, Norway, p. 38.
Heath, L. S., Birdsey, R. A., Row, C., and Plantinga, A. J.: 1996, ‘Carbon Pools and Fluxes in U.S. Forest Products’ In Apps, M. J. and Price, D. T. (eds.), Forest Ecosystems, Forest Management and the Global Carbon Cycle, NATO ASI Series, Vol. I 40, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp. 271–278.
Institute for Forestry and Forest Products (SBH): 1998, Dutch National Wood Products Database on Production, Consumption and Processing, Collected by the Institute for Forest and Forest Products.
International Tropical Timber Organization: 1995, Annual Review and Assessment of the World Tropical Timber Situation 1993-1994, ITTO, Yokohama.
IPCC/OECD/IEA: 1995, IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories: Volumes 1, 2, and 3, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, International Energy Agency, Secretariat, Geneva, Switzerland.
IPCC/OECD/IEA: 1996, ‘Module 5. Land Use Change and Forestry’ in Houghton et al. (eds.), IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventory,Workbook, Vol. 2, p. 54 and Reference Manual, Vol 3, p. 74, Working Group I, TSU, United Kingdom.
Karjalainen, T.: 1996, Dynamics of the Carbon Flow through Forest Ecosystem and the Potential of Carbon Sequestration in Forests and Wood Products in Finland, Research Notes Faculty of Forestry, University of Joensuu, Finland, Academic Dissertation, p. 31.
Karjalainen, T., Kellomäki, S., and Pussinen, A.: 1994, ‘Role of Wood-Based Products in Absorbing Atmospheric Carbon’ Silva Fennica 28, 67–80.
Kempe, G., Toet, H., Magnusson, P. H., and Bergstedt, J.: 1992, The Swedish National Forest Inventory 1983-87, State of the Forests, Growth, and Annual Cut, Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet, Institutionen for Skogstaxering, Umea, Sweden, Rapport 51, p. 238.
Krankina, O. N., Harmon, M. E., and Winjum, J. K.: 1996, ‘Carbon Storage and Sequestration in the Russian Forest Sector’ Ambio 25, 284–288.
Kurz, W. A., Apps, M. J., Webb, T. M., and McNamee, P. J.: 1992, The Carbon Budget of the Canadian Forest Sector: Phase I, Information Report NOR-X-326, Forestry Canada, Edmonton, Alberta, p. 93.
Lim, B., Brown, S., Schlamadinger, B., Sokona, Y. et al.: 1998, Evaluating Approaches for Estimating Net Emissions of Carbon Dioxide from Forest Harvesting and Wood Products
IPCC/OECD/IEA Programme on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Meeting Report, Dakar Senegal, 5-7 May 1998.
Marland, G. and Schlamadinger, B.: 1997, ‘Forests for Carbon Sequestration or Fossil Fuel Substitution? - A Sensitivity Analysis’ Biomass Bioenergy 13, 389–397.
Matthews, R., Nabuurs, G. J., Alexeyev, V., Birdsey, R. A., Fischlin, A., MacLaren, J. P., Marland, G., and Price, D.: 1996, ‘WG3 Summary: Evaluating the Role of Forest Management and Forest Products in the Carbon Cycle’ in Apps, M. J. and Price, D. T. (eds.), Forest Ecosystems, Forest Management and the Global Carbon Cycle, NATO Advanced Science Institute Series, NATOASI Vol. I 40, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp. 293–301.
Michie, B. and Wardle, P.: 1998, UNSTAT Trade Data as Basis for Analysis and Projections of Forest Products Trade Flows, Working Paper 17, European Forest Institute, Joensuu, Finland, p. 44.
Michie, B., Chandrasekharan, C., and Wardle, P.: 1999, ‘Production and Trade in Forest Goods’ in Palo, M. and Uusivuori, J. (eds.), World Forests, Society and Environment. Vol. 1, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp. 78–85.
Nabuurs, G. J.: 1998, ‘Dutch Forests Become More Valuable’ Neth. For. J. 70, 69.
Nabuurs, G. J. and Sikkema, R.: 1998, The Role of Harvested Wood Products in National Carbon Balances - An Evaluation of Alternatives for IPCC Guidelines, IBN Research Report 98/3, Institute for Forestry and Nature Research, Institute for Forest and Forest Products, p. 53.
Nabuurs, G. J., Päivinen, R., Sikkema, R., and Mohren, G. M. J.: 1997, ‘The Role of European Forests in the Global Carbon Cycle - a Review’ Biomass Bioenergy 13, 345–358.
NUTEC (Swedish National Board for Industrial and Technical Development): Database on Forest Products.
Schlamadinger, B. and Marland, G.: 1996, ‘The Role of Forest and Bioenergy Strategies in the Global Carbon Cycle’ Biomass Bioenergy 10, 275–300.
Seubring, A. M.: 1997, Wood in the Dutch Forests: Analyses of Development of Standing Stock, Increment and Harvest in 1988-1996, Foundation Bosdata Wageningen, The Netherlands, p. 34.
Sikkema, R.: 1997, Power from Trees: Europe, Report EWAB 9707, Netherlands Organization for Energy and Environment, Utrecht, The Netherlands, p. 24.
Sikkema, R. and Nabuurs, G. J.: 1995, ‘Forests and Wood Consumption on the Carbon Balance: Carbon Emission Reduction by Use of Wood Products’ in Zwerver, S. et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the International Climate Change Research Conference, Maastricht, The Netherlands, 6–9 December 1994, Studies in Environmental Science 65B, Elsevier, Amsterdam.
Skog, K. E. and Nicholson, G. A.: 1998, ‘Carbon Cycling throughWood Products: The Role ofWood and Paper Products in Carbon Sequestration’ Forest Prod. J. 48, 75–83.
Skogstyrelsen (National Board of Forestry): 1997, Skogsstatistik Årsbok, Yearbook of Forest Statistics, Swedish Official Statistics, Jönköping, Sweden, p. 351.
Solberg, B.: 1995, ‘Forest Biomass as Carbon Sink - Economic Value and Forest Management/Policy Implications, J. Environ. Res. Econ. 5, 1–10.
Watson, R. T., Noble, I. R., Bolin, B., Ravindranath, N. H., Verardo D. J., and Dokken, D. J. (eds.): 2000, Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry. A Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K., p. 377.
Winjum, J. K., Brown, S., and Schlamadinger, B.: 1998, ‘Forest Harvests and Wood Products: Sources and Sinks of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide’ Forest Sci. 44, 272–284.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nabuurs, G.J., Sikkema, R. International Trade in Wood Products: Its Role in the Land Use Change andForestry Carbon Cycle. Climatic Change 49, 377–395 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010732726540
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010732726540