Icelandic forests finally on the European map

Biomass in forests is a resource that is of great importance in the transition to a green economy. Therefore, in order to ensure sustainable management of forest resources, it is necessary to provide a high quality assessment of this biomass. An article recently published in Nature covers the biomass reserves and the growth of biomass in forests in most of Europe, including Iceland. Arnór Snorrason, an expert at Land and Forest, is among the authors of the article, titled: Harmonised statistics and maps of forest biomass and increment in Europe.

For many years Arnór has been the director of the Icelandic Forest Inventory, which evaluates and monitors forests and woodlands in Iceland. When asked what is most important for Iceland in the article, he mentions that Iceland is now in fact on the map for the first time. Until now, Iceland has not been on the maps that have been published showing the status and condition of European forests. Now, however, Iceland’s forest cover is in this respectable place and finally visible on the map.

Important for climate goals

According to Arnór, the article underlines the challenge that is on everyone’s mind at the moment, that Europe can meet its climate targets in the LULUCF sector by 2030. The biomass and biomass growth presented in this article is an input into the new EU policy, which includes Iceland and Norway, to reduce net emissions by 310 million tonnes by 2030. An important part of seeing whether the target will be met is to look at the forest biomass, its amount and how much it is increasing. This is the first attempt to do this in a completely uniform way across Europe and to get the methodology accepted scientifically.

This is the most important aspect, Arnór says, because a coordinated European forest monitoring system is being established, with the main purpose of monitoring the carbon reserves, how they are built up, and where the forest is, but also evaluating various other aspects, such as biodiversity.

Timber access

Another novelty Arnór points out is that it is the first time that it has been published how much of the biomass in the forests is available for timber use. A lot of the forests in Europe are protected and no trees are allowed to be felled for timber. Large areas are also poorly accessible because of steep areas, distance from roads and other reasons. This is listed in forest inventories, Arnór says, among other things, including the Icelandic Forest Inventory. This gives better information about how much wood is available for use. Icelanders have been involved in coordinating the methods used to assess how accessible forests are for use.

Reduced net emissions

As mentioned above, the biomass and biomass growth presented in the Nature article in question is an input into the new European Union policy, which Iceland and Norway are party to, and which involves reducing net emissions by 310 million tons by 2030. Better knowledge of this biomass is crucial in understanding the situation and how to respond. There is now talk that this may need to be addressed by reducing the amount of timber harvesting for the goals to be achieved, but also by increasing afforestation or reforestation measures. However, if timber harvesting is reduced, it may in turn affect efforts to substitute climate-heavy materials like steel and concrete with sustainable timber or the use of timber as fuel instead of oil and coal. There are therefore sometimes conflicting goals and approaches.

When asked about the importance of the publication of the paper in the prestigious journal Nature, Arnór admits that it is always an honor to have a paper published in such a prestigious publication. The requirements are high, and for example, all the data behind the results are accessible by means of links to the databases that accompany the paper. It has been several years since the main author of the paper, Valerio Avitabile, first contacted representatives of the national forest inventories in the countries in question, initially just to gather information for a lecture he was preparing. That lecture ended up becoming an article in one of the world’s most prestigious scientific publications, Nature.

The European Union paid for open access to the article and therefore it is open to all readers, not only Nature subscribers.

Land og skógur congratulates Arnór on his part in the paper published in Nature.

• The article on nature.com: Harmonised statistics and maps of forest biomass and increment in Europe.