Evaluating land-use related environmental impacts of biomass value chains for decision-support : Comparison and testing of methodologies proposed for environmental life cycle assessment

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is one of the most established quantitative tools for environmental impact assessment of products. To be able to provide support to environmentally-aware decision makers on environmental impacts of biomass value-chains, the scope of LCA methodology needs to be augmented to cover landuse related environmental impacts. This dissertation focuses on analysing and discussing potential impact assessment methods, conceptual models and environmental indicators that have been proposed to be implemented into the LCA framework for impacts of land use. The applicability of proposed indicators and impact assessment frameworks is tested from practitioners' perspective, especially focusing on forest biomass value chains. The impacts of land use on biodiversity, resource depletion, climate change and other ecosystem services is analysed and discussed and the interplay in between value choices in LCA modelling and the decision-making situations to be supported is critically discussed. It was found out that land use impact indicators are necessary in LCA in highlighting differences in impacts from distinct land use classes. However, many open questions remain on certainty of highlighting actual impacts of land use, especially regarding impacts of managed forest land use on biodiversity and ecosystem services such as water regulation and purification. The climate impact of energy use of boreal stemwood was found to be higher in the short term and lower in the long-term in comparison with fossil fuels that emit identical amount of CO2 in combustion, due to changes implied to forest C stocks. The climate impacts of energy use of boreal stemwood were found to be higher than the previous estimates suggest on forest residues and stumps. The product lifetime was found to have much higher influence on the climate impacts of woodbased value chains than the origin of stemwood either from thinnings or final fellings. Climate neutrality seems to be likely only in the case when almost all the carbon of harvested wood is stored in long-lived wooden products. In the current form, the land use impacts cannot be modelled with a high degree of certainty nor communicated with adequate level of clarity to decision makers. The academia needs to keep on improving the modelling framework, and more importantly, clearly communicate to decision-makers the limited certainty on whether land-use intensive activities can help in meeting the strict mitigation targets we are globally facing.

Berättelse om Åland

Author: Samuel Ehrenmalm.

Beskrifning öfver Åland : af Fredric Wilhelm Radloff, med. doct. och provincial-medicus på Åland.

Dedicated to: Hans Maj:t Konungen.

Kort beskrifning om Åland : författad af Daniel Djurberg. Rector scholä, ledamot af Cosmogr. sällskapet i Upsala. Med karta.

Digital reproduction, The National Library of Finland, Centre for Preservation and Digitisation, Mikkeli

Northern Landscapes : ʻʻImplementation of the European Landscape Convention In the North Calotte Area Municipalitiesʼʼ - Conference in Inari, Finland 7-9.9.2011

The conference promoting the objectives of the international European Landscape Convention (ELC) was held on 7-9 September 2011 in Inari. The primary aim of the conference was to increase awareness of the ELC and the prospects and requirements it brings to practical planning work, especially at the municipal level. The conference speakers included top experts from Sweden, Norway, Finland, France, Holland and Catalonia. This report is a collection of articles written by the experts in the ELC conference. The report is available in five languages: Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Northern Sámi and English. The common characteristics of the North Calotte area, such as the magnificent riverside scenery and the beautiful fell landscapes formed by the Sámi culture and reindeer management are broadly reflected in the environment. Alongside the traditional forms of land use, many other livelihoods and forms of land use now need to be accommodated in the area. Tourism, energy production, mining industry and new infrastructure create new and manifold challenges to the authorities in charge of land use in these areas. Municipalities need information and support for versatile planning in the future, so that the unique and valuable characteristics of the North can be preserved. Landscape protection and management in the landscape areas is executed through areal and land use planning, mainly through town planning and the creation of landscape management plans. The municipalities in the North Calotte region have their own partly divergent methods and practices, based on the various land use processes are executed. The municipalities and inhabitants have a great interest in preserving and protecting their living environment and maintaining and increasing the appeal of the area. Landscape is viewed as one of the most significant appealing factors that cannot be lost. The increasing land use in municipalities, for example due to energy production, mining industry and increasing tourism, create a need for more multidimensional planning. The reconciliation of the wishes of different interest groups, and traditional and new livelihoods will not be easy. Conflict is inevitable. This will lead to a greater need to engage local bodies to the planning processes right from the start of the projects. Close cooperation between different administrative branches, operators, local bodies and landscape research promote the objectives of the convention. To ensure that the work continues, a landscape co-operation group is planned to be established in the North Calotte area. It´s main task is to promote and develop landscape policy in the area.

Decentralized management of organic household wastes in the Kathmandu Valley using small-scale composting reactors

The sustainable management of municipal solid waste in the Kathmandu Valley has always been a challenging task. Solid waste generation has gone rapidly high in the Kathmandu Valley over the last decade due to booming population and rapid urbaniza-tion. Finding appropriate landfill sites for the disposal of solid wastes generated from the households of the Kathmandu Valley has always been a major problem for Nepalese government. 65 % of total generated wastes from the households of Nepal consist of organic materials. As large fractions of generated household wastes are organic in na-ture, composting can be considered as one of the best sustainable ways to recycle organ-ic wastes generated from the households of Nepal. Model Community Society Development (MCDS), a non-governmental organization of Nepal carried out its small-scale project in five households of the Kathmandu Valley by installing composting reactors. This thesis is based on this small-scale project and has used secondary data provided by MCDS Nepal for carrying out the study. Proper man-agement of organic wastes can be done at household levels through the use of compost-ing reactors. The end product compost can be used as soil conditioners for agricultural purposes such as organic farming, roof-top farming and gardening. The overall average organic waste generation in the Kathmandu Valley is found to be 0,23 kg/person/day and the total amount of organic household wastes generated in the Kathmandu Valley is around 210 Gg/yr. Produced composts from five composting reac-tors contain high amount of moistures but have sufficient amount of nutrients required for the fertility of land and plant growth. Installation of five composting reactors in five households have prevented 2,74 Mg of organic wastes going into the landfills, thus re-ducing 107 kg of methane emissions which is equivalent to 2,7 Mg of carbondioxide.