Northern ToSIA (Tool for Sustainability Impact Assessment)

Assessing sustainability of forest based activities in the Northern European region

Inshriach forest, the Northern ToSIA case study site, offers a diverse range of benefits including providing habitat for the endangered Capercaillie, hiking trails for recreation and high quality Scots pine timber

Summary

One of the major challenges for forestry in the 21st century is how to ensure, measure and assess forest sustainability. The Northern ToSIA project is focussed on developing a comprehensive decision support tool to be used for estimating the impacts on sustainability of various forest based activities.

Brochure ToSIA – Tool for Sustainability Impact Assesment ^(PDF-1493K)
The official project brochure which describes the ToSIA tool and methodology. For further information please contact: diana.votter@efi.int

Research objectives

The main objective for the project is to provide methods for helping to enhance the sustainable use of forest resources in selected Northern regions in Finland, Sweden, Scotland and Norway.

Case study

The Scottish case study, one of four formed within the project, is based on Inshriach Forest within the Cairngorms National Park. This case study examines how management options due to changing climatic conditions impact a number of environmental, social and ecological indicators, and enterprises dependent on the forest.

An important step in the case study development was a workshop held in May 2010 in the National Park area. It brought stakeholders together from Scotland and the wider Northern Periphery region to discuss how impact assessment in the forestry sector can be incorporated into regional and business development planning.

Drawing on case studies in Finland (North Karelia), Sweden (Malå Sami Village), Norway (Indre Helgeland) and Scotland (Cairngorms National Park) the Northern ToSIA final conference in August 2011 demonstrated how the results of the project can help decision-makers balance the demands of different aspects of forestry, for example timber production, wildlife management and recreation.

Reports and papers

The application of ToSIA to support forest landscape decision-making in Scotland
A report on the application of ToSIA to support forest landscape decision-making in Scotland has been prepared, and is currently under review with stakeholders.
Analysing forest sustainability under various climate change scenarios: a case study in northern Scotland^(PDF-177K)
This paper details the Scottish case study and initial results which were presented at the Commonwealth Forestry Conference 2010 and published in the proceedings.

Funders and partners

The project is co-financed by the Northern Periphery Programme 2007–2013 and several national and regional sources:

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
Ministry of Environment (FIN)
Regional Council of North Karelia (FIN)
Forestry Commission (UK)
County Administrative Board of Västerbotten (SE)
County Governor of Nordland (NO).

The project is implemented by five main partners:

European Forest Institute EFI, Finland
Forestry Centre of North Karelia, Finland
Forest Research and Forestry Commission Scotland
Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences SLU, Sweden
Department of Agriculture, County Governor of Nordland, Norway.

In addition, there are several Associate Partners involved in the project implementation such as regional organisations and development bodies, as well as forest sector companies.

The project has developed from the EU 6th Framework EFORWOOD project but with the focus at the regional rather than the European level.

Forestry Commission policy

British forest policy on Sustainable Forest Management has evolved over the last decade in response to the commitments undertaken at the 1992 UNCED conference in Rio (the Earth Summit) and subsequently developed through the processes of the Ministerial Conferences on Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE).

At the UK level, the criteria and standards for Sustainable Forest Management are codified in the UK Forestry Standard. This document (first published in 1998 and in revised form in 2004 and 2011) supported the subsequent establishment of an independent certification standard (UKWAS) and has led to the environmental labelling of home grown forest products. These commitments area also reflected in the forestry strategies published for England, Scotland, and Wales, each of which contain their own support for Sustainable Forest Management.

The project is designed to support Forestry Commission policy on sustainable forest management.

Status

The project will run for 36 months (2008 to 2011).

The majority of the case study forest and regional analyses will be completed by late 2010 and will be followed by the stakeholder engagement until mid 2011.