Forest Overview

Indicators:

Main Indicators

Biomass forest

Biomass harvested

Wood plantations

Demand and production

Management

Note: If we speak of forest in this view we mean the vegetation types boreal forest, cool coniferous forest, temperate mixed forest, temperate deciduous forest, warm mixed forest, tropical woodland, tropical forest with a forest coverage >= 90%

This forest view summarizes the characteristics of forest use, associated land requirements, and transformations.

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Main indicators

Forest area

unit:km2
dimension: region, forestry type

The forest area represents the extent of different forestry types.

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Harvested area

unit: km2
dimension: region, wood product type, forestry type

The area that is harvested in a given year to provide the wood demand for each of the forestry types: clear-cut, selective cut, or wood plantations. In a forest that is clear-cut, all trees are harvested; while under selective cut only a relatively small number of trees is extracted from the forest.

Note: the harvested area refers to the total forest area from which trees are selectively harvested and not only to the area occupied by the actually harvested trees.

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Deforested area

unit:km2
dimension: region, forestry type, conversion cause

Area of forest that is converted to other use, i.e. agricultural food production. The tree biomass removed through conversion can be used as part of the regional wood demand (conversion cause agriculture and wood). Deforested area is not one of the forestry categories because an area that is deforested will have a non-forest land use after deforestation. Forest that is clear-cut for wood production and will regenerate is not considered to be deforested area.

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Forest coverage

unit: qualifier, composed of forest state in combination with forestry type

dimension:map

Spatial information on forest dynamics for forests in different development stages (primary, regrowth, mature) in combination with the practiced harvesting , i.e. cc: clear- cut; sc: selective cut; wp: wood plantations. Mature forest has completed a full rotation cycle (harvest and regrowth) and can be harvested again, while in regrowth forest biomass is still recovering after harvest.

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Biomass forest

This box focuses on biomass of forest.

Included indicators:

Biomass forest

unit:Mg C
dimension: region, biomass pools, forestry type

Forest biomass is divided in two biomass pools; living biomass made up by the forest vegetation, i.e. stems, branches, leaves and roots, and dead biomass in the form of litter and woody debris.

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Biomass forest per km2

unit:Mg C/km2
dimension: region, biomass pools, forestry type

Area weighted average of biomass forest

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Biomass harvested

This box focuses on biomass harvested.

Included indicators:

Harvested wood biomass

unit:Mg C
dimension: region, wood product type, forestry type

Amount of wood biomass harvested for each wood product. This amount is removed from the forest and thus reduces the total forest biomass and carbon content.
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Biomass harvested per km2

unit:Mg C/km2
dimension: region, wood production type, forestry type

Area weighted average of Harvested wood biomass

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Wood plantations

This box gives an overview of all indicators on wood plantations.

Included indicators:

Total area wood plantations

unit: km2
dimension: region, starting type

Plantations can be established in three different ways (starting type)

If the first two options do not create sufficient plantation area in a given year, additional forest will be forced clear-cut until the required plantation area is reached.
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Plantation area (growth)

unit:km2
dimension: region

Annual growth of the area of wood plantations per region.

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Demand and production

Relative supply

unit: percentage
dimension: region

For each region the percentage of the total wood demand that can be supplied by harvested wood in a given year. A percentage below 100% means that supply of wood from the different forestry types together is less than the total demand for wood production from that region. The shortage is not supplied by increasing trade (still under development).

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Wood demand

unit: Mg C
dimension:region, wood product type

Regional wood demand per wood product type. The demand can be based on external scenario input or depends on Industrial Value Added(IVA), population and the present forest area.
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Management

This box contains indicators that determines the model behaviour regarding forestry, i.e. input parameters.

Included indicators:

Fraction forest cut down at harvest

unit: fraction.
dimension: region, forestry type

Model input. Per region and forestry type the fraction of the forest biomass that will be cut down at harvest. This includes the wood that is actually extracted, damage to the remaining forests, harvest losses and wood (e.g. branches) that remains in the forest.

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Fraction selective cut for wood production after wp

unit: fraction.
dimension: region

Model input. At harvest time, first the mature plantations are harvested. The remaining wood demand is supplied from selective cut and clear-cut. The indicator represents the fraction of the remaining wood demand that is provided by selective cut in (semi-)natural forests . The complement of this indicator represents the fraction supplied by clear-cut.
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Fraction biomass harvested

unit: fraction
dimension: region, forestry type, biomass pools

Model input. The fraction of amount of biomass that is cut down and is removed from the forest to supply wood demand. The remaining fraction constitutes the cut-down wood left behind as damage and losses.
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