HOW BIOENERGY CAN DRIVE SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT AND REGIONAL - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

HOW BIOENERGY CAN DRIVE SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT AND REGIONAL GREEN ECONOMY – A SYNERGETIC ASSESSMENT APPROACH Florian Kraxner*, Jue Yang, Kentaro Aoki*, Sylvain Leduc*, Yoshiki Yamagata *International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, IIASA, Austria National Institute for Environmental Studies, NIES, Japan

Study Aims  Increasing sustainable bioenergy generation  Perception, awareness and knowledge of the public in a Japanese Eco-Model City  Ecological and economic incentives  Identify policy needs to support domestic forest use  Improving Forest Management (SFM/Certification)  Sustainable Rural Development  Supporting Local Industry  Comparison to other Eco-Model Cities ?? Is it enough to introduce RE policy without accompanying measures and knowledge on people‘s opinion??

Background Global Oil Consumption, 2009.  UN Kyoto Protocol (-6% from 1990)  Biomass Nippon Strategy Energy Information Administration, 2009.  Prevention of CC  Development of recycling-oriented society  Incubation of new industries  Activation of rural areas  Roadmap to Copenhagen COP 13 (-25 to -40% during next 15-20 years)  G8 Summit Toyako Hokkaido (-50% by 2050)  IEA: 21% of global energy in 2050 from renewables

Global Future Energy Portfolios, 2000 – 2100 Source: Azar et al., 2010 Energy self-sufficiency ratio in Japan is 17.5% (nuclear energy is counted as domestic energy resource) and fossil oil dependency was 46.4 % in 2008 (ANRE, 2010).

OVERVIEW - JAPAN Industrialized and developed country Forest share of total area: 67% 41% of which is under management 1% of total forest area is certified Japan 1% of energy supply from RE (mostly waste biomass, only 4% of harvested wood goes into biomass for bioenergy) e.g. compared to Austria 25% of energy supply from RE 25% of harvested wood is used as biomass for bioenergy

Forest Certification Shimokawa Town= 0,006.480 mio ha (FSC) 160 9 8 140 7 120 6 UNECE Region Outside UNECE 5 100 4 80 PEFC PEFC 3 FSC FSC 60 2 1 40 0 20 0 Canada USA Finland Russia Sweden Oliver and Kraxner, 2009 Certified forest area in million hectares Japan

Forest Products Certification CoC (outside UNECE) 1200 1000 800 600 FSC PEFC 400 200 0 Japan China Brazil Australia Hong Kong Vietnam New Indonesia South Malaysia Zealand Africa 2009 Oliver and Kraxner, 2009 CoC certificates by country outside the UNECE region

Forestry Situation in Japan

Methodology Socio-Economic Analysis of Yusuhara Town  Public Opinion on Forest, Forestry, Wood, Environment, Renewable Energy  Forest Sector  Public Opinion Survey  Questionnaire

Target Area in Japan Yusuhara Town, Kochi, Shikoku I sland Population 4,860 Area 23,651ha Forest cover 91 % Forestry is a major industry. Selection criteria: •Rural area •Strong forest sector •Cooperation with local authorities •Certification

The Questionnaire Design  Part A: collects general information on the individual household.  Part B: investigates people’s perception of the local forest and its condition.  Part C: tests the public’s knowledge on sustainability, certification and the willingness of increased forest management.  Part D: tests the publics’ opinion regarding wood itself and biomass in general. Further, the willingness for a change in forestry or the capability of innovative imaginations is surveyed.  Part E: tests the environmental knowledge and willingness to pay for mitigating climate change.

Target Area in Japan Shimokawa Town, Hokkaido, Japan Population 3,860 644 km 2 Area Forest cover 90 % Forestry is a major industry. Selection criteria: •Rural area •Strong forest sector •Cooperation with local authorities •Certification •Eco-Model City

The Questionnaire Design  Part A: collects general information on the individual household.  Part B: investigates people’s perception of the local forest and its condition.  Part C: tests the public’s knowledge on sustainability, certification and the willingness of increased forest management.  Part D: tests the publics’ opinion regarding bioenergy.

Results – Gender and Age histogram of age female gender 0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00% 34% below 20 from30to39 age from50to59 male 66% above70 Age distribution Respondents’ gender structure

Results – Forest Ownership and Jobs not sure, others, 17, 2% 143, 19% 35 percent of cases 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 forest housewife part-time worker agriculture foresty localgov company worke management civil servant self employed unemployed other owner, 605, 79% Respondents’ forest ownership Respondents’ job structure

Results – Forest Functions Public’s perception of forest functions biodiversity 100% forester 80% carbon storage ecosystem farmer 60% companyworker 40% unemployed 20% employment 0% water provision wood production disaster prevention recreation

Results – Meaning and Use of Forest Agreement to statements on the meaning and use of forest by  different job groups good for environment & climate 100% 80% 60% should be the symbol of nature 40% protected & used 20% 0% needs to be protected should be used forester farmer feel closest to nature company worker unemployed

Results – Increased Forest Use Forest owners’ versus non-forest owners’ levels of agreement  (significant) regarding an increased use of the forest (harvesting more trees) under “ normal conditions ” (SFM has not been mentioned explicitly) and under “ SFM conditions ” (SFM has been explicitly mentioned). forest forest 212 152 27 176 365 69 155 owners owners agree disagree stay the same not sure non forest non forest 104 22 9 18 owners 55 17 84 owners 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Results – Forest Functions Public’s perception of forest functions Highest agreement among all respondents as to what constituted the most important role of forest was found for natural-biophysical functions such as forest as important ecosystem and living space. The lowest importance was attributed to forest’s role as place for wood and biomass production and for creating jobs and especially as a place for recreation .

Results – Meaning and Use of Forest Agreement to statements on the meaning and use of forest by different  job groups Highest agreement was stated for the notions forest being good for the environment and climate. As soon as the production function is included to the statements – such as that forests should be used by man through forest management and harvesting, the agreement level goes down by some 30% .

Results – Harvesting Levels & Conditions Preconditions under which harvesting intensity for bioenergy might  change Certain combinations favor or hinder the acceptance of increased harvesting in Shimokawa- Town. The pure aspect of certification did not fully convince people to accept an increase of harvesting. Also an increase of harvest that directly goes into bioenergy did not convince many more people to accept it. The situation changes, once a combination of e.g. certification or SFM with the objective of bioenergy production is introduced.

Results – Biomass for Bioenergy, Home Heating Most people in Shimokawa Town stated to have a home heating system  based on kerosene (85%), gas (44%) or electricity (32%). Only 8% of all households have their heating system based on wood and 2% are using also solar heat. Especially the use of wood – in a Town that is 90% covered by forest – seemed to be extremely low and hence offered clear room for improvement. This idea had been also successfully picked up in the Eco-Model City proposal to the Japanese government. 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 kerosene 399 gas 204 electricity 148 wood 37 others 15 sola 11 heavy crude oil 3

Results – Switch Home Heating In the case that the respondents would have been able to easily switch to  another heating system, almost 70% would have chosen to switch to a solar option, while switching to a heating system based on forest biomass would have been the second choice, selected by 28% of the public, followed by wind (27%) and pellet systems (24%). The willingness-to-pay analysis indicated that male respondents, when  they are older than the average and have a higher income, show most willingness to invest and switch towards a forest biomass based heating system. 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 solar 299 biomass 121 wind 119 pellet 104 hydro 94 geothermal 84 nothing 34 oil 24 nuclear 23

Results and Conclusions 1. Unrealized economic potential for domestic forest certification in close linkage to an increased forest use for bioenergy 2. Forest owners, aware of certification, willing to increase forest use, also want to increase the biomass for bioenergy production 3. People know too little about the forest, its functions and its management – even on the country side

Where is demand/supply?  Heat demand  Plantation Forestry

Sustainable Forest Use  Very conservative (sustainable approach)  Using 0.05% of stocking wood  Using much less than ½ increment  Forest Certification possible