A timber truck fully loaded with logs drives over a very simple wooden bridge in a forest.

Institute of

WF Forestry

Ongoing Projects · Forest Products Markets

Analyses of forest products markets

Continuing globalisation and internationalisation in forest policy have pulled the wood trade flows into the interest of the public. For this reason we process on the international trade with wood and wood based products.

Bio-economy Monitoring

Food security, climate protection, biodiversity as well as supply of bio materials and renewable energy pose significantly challenges to our economy. But even the question of the actual state of bio-economy in Germany could not satisfactorily be answered. Not only the knowledge about the paths of bio-based material is lacking but also detailed data does often not exist. Thus, an assessment of the bio based economy is not possible.

Bioeconomy Monitoring II

What has biomass use in Germany developed? How important are import commodities for German bioeconomy and what effects do they have in the countries of origin? We will address these and further questions in the project.

Carbon Leak

In the Carbon Leak project, we are analyzing the effects of German and European climate protection measures on global agricultural and timber markets and of the potential leakage effects on emissions. The increased requirements for the emission balance of the Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) and agriculture sectors adopted in the German Climate Protection Act and related EU legislation may lead to a significant reduction in timber harvesting as well as agricultural production in Germany and Europe. Such changes suggest significant market effects, such as decreasing production ...

Charter for Wood 2.0

The Charter for Wood 2.0 aims to increase the contribution of sustainable forestry and wood use to climate change mitigation. It contributes to the implementation of the Federal Government’s Climate Action Plan 2050. Strengthening value creation in the forestry & wood cluster and conserving finite resources through sustainable and efficient wood use are further key objectives.

Clusterstatistics

Based on official statistics on turnover, the number of enterprises and employment we investigate the economy of forestry and wood industry. The main objectives of our research is the quantification of the added value in forest and wood industry including their structural development.

Modelling of the global roundwood supply

Which economic theories describe the relationship between socioeconomic variables and forest development? How can global roundwood production be modeled with the help of theories of forest development? We want to improve the global forest products model GFPM with an extension of the module on forest development.

National wood market in a global context

German forest and timber enterprises are integrated into global forest products markets. This has advantages and disadvantages: On the one hand it enables companies to export their products to other countries. On the other hand competition also increases in domestic markets. The forest and timber policy requires information about the developments on international timber markets and their influence on domestic enterprises.

The forest industry in competition

The German forest based sector is one of the major global exporters of wood and paper products. Will the sector be able to holds its position in future?

Wood balances

Annual fellings contribute about the fourth part of the total supply of all wood based products in Germany. Imports account for 50 per cent and hence the largest part, as our annual calculations of the wood balances for Germany show. Where does the rest come from?

Wood Resource Monitoring

Wood is one of the most important renewable resources in Germany. But who uses this resource? But how much wood is used? And where or for what purpose is it used?

Completed Projects · Forest Products Markets

Analysis of illegal logging

Despite international efforts to combat illegal logging, the problem remains widespread. There has been little systematic research to analyze the causes of illegal logging.

Biokraft - Biofuels from woody biomass

Biofuels play an important role in the IPCC climate mitigation scenarios climate mitigation scenarios and woody biomass is considered a viable feedstock for its production, which can avoid competition for land and food. Yet, is there enough wood to reach our climate goals? Our research interest particularly focuses on quantification of woody biomass for biofuel production in Germany and the EU.

Interactions between agricultural, wood and energy markets

Policies and increasing prices for fossil energy sources make the use of biomass for energy purposes more attractive. At the same time, the costs of production of biomass increase. We combine the economic models for the agricultural and forestry sector from several Thünen institutes in order to represent the linkages between markets for agricultural and forestry products as well as for energy markets.

Matrix model for wood origins

Worldwide, the trade in wood has increased in recent years. Environmental impacts such as forest loss are inextricably linked to the origin of the roundwood. But where does the wood come from?

Pulp and Paper Balances

The international statistics on recovered pulp production are in need of optimization. We are working on a method to supplement them.

Recalculation of fellings

Official statistics underestimate the realistic figures on annual felling substantially. During the last years the difference between the official statistics and a proposed realistic figure was more than ten million cubic meters. By using a modeling approach, we try to close this information gap.

Relocation Effects of the EU Biodiversitity Strategy 2030

The overarching objective of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 (EU-BDS) is to protect nature’s biodiversity and to halt and reverse ecosystem degradation in the EU member states. The implementation of additional forest protection and restoration measures will have a negative impact on the roundwood production of the EU member states. Therefore, the aim of this project is to quantify shifts in roundwood production from the EU to third countries and to assess possible biodiversity impacts in the affected countries.

Resource monitoring for wood

Wood is one of the most important renewable resources in Germany. But who uses this resource? How is the supply of the different assortments? Available statistics do show considerable gaps of information.

Scenarios of the Bio Economy 2050 - Potentials, trade-offs, solution strategies

The transition of our present petrol-based to a more sustainable bio-based economy requires broad societal acceptance. For the successful implementation of the bio economy strategy potential trade-offs have to be identified in advance, and solution strategies for stakeholders and the civil society have to be developed.

Solid biomass in the sector TCS

At the latest, since the shift in German energy policy renewable energy sources became increasingly important. To provide policy with quantitative information on wood energy use, a good database is essential. The project solid biomass use in the sector trade, commerce and services (TCS) aims at improving data availability and quality in this regard.

Systemic wood resource monitoring

The Bioeconomy and the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (BioSDG)

With the Agenda 2030 the international community set itself 17 goals (the Sustainable Development Goals, SDG) for a socially, economically and ecologically sustainable development. To fulfill these SDGs, the development towards bioeconomy is considered as a possible solution. The impact of such transformations on specific SDGs will be analyzed within the project “BioSDG”.

WEHAM-Scenarios

How to use the forest area in Germany? How much space should be protected and how much wood should be produced? How do we prepare forests for climate change? We need decision support to solve problems of conflicting forest utilization.

WEHAM-Scenarios - Work Package 4: Sustainability assessment

How will the implementation of the various requirements of German society affect the future forest cultivation and timber use? How sustainable are the forest management scenarios developed together with the stakeholders in Work package 1 and 2? These questions were examined in Work package 4: “Sustainability assessment” of the joint research project WEHAM-Scenarios.

Wood energy consumption in private households

The aim of this project is to empirically determine the wood energy consumption of German private households in 2020. The necessary collection of data will be undertaken for 10 000 households. The results will be an important basis for reporting and implemented in the estimation of felling for Germany.

Wood in the construction sector

The material use of wood is of significant importance with regard to both the storage of CO2 and the substitution of other goods and its related value added. A key sector for the material use of wood and wood products is the construction industry. The study provides information on the current demand of wood products in the construction sector.

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