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Abstract
Small-diameter hardwood (SDH) in Austria is currently a mass input for energetic use (fuel wood, heat plants) and pulp production. Its use is non-selective and non-distinctive with regard to wood quality and potential for value generation. Sustainability impact assessment methodology is applied for the stages of forest management, harvest & transport and wood processing & industries to test alternative ways of SDH use with a higher share of material use. A higher amount of material use of SDH due to improved forest management, sorting, logistics and sawing techniques may lead to overall more sustainable wood-based value chains, including a more balanced benefit sharing and value creation within regions and rural areas, along sub-sectors as well as across sustainability dimensions, and to higher efficiency of wood consumption in terms of cascade use and carbon storage. Enhanced cooperatives in the forest-based sector and active support by coherent regional policies on the use of natural resources are needed to overcome obstacles such as insufficient wood mobilisation due to fragmented forest ownership, and supply chains that are non-integrated within and between forest-based sub-sectors.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology in the frame of the sub-programme “Factory of Tomorrow”, grant no. 819255. Special thanks go to Christian Hansmann, Hermann Huber and Maximilian Pristovnik for help setting up this project. We thank Werner Rammer and Stefan Schörghuber for the calculation routine of NFI data on SDH potentials.