An indicator to assess the pellet production per forest area. A case-study from Portugal

作者：Nunes Joao^*; Freitas Helena^*

来源：Forest Policy and Economics, 2016, 70: 99-105.

DOI：10.1016/j.forpo1.2016.05.022

• Forest management indicator
• Bioenergy
• Pellets market
• Portuguese forest
• Sustainable policies

Efficient use of natural resources from forest ecosystems is essential to implement and promote their sustainable management. The market of pellet production in Portugal has grown significantly since 2007, as in the rest of Europe. Pellet production can be obtained from industrial wood residues (sawdust, chips, shavings) or roundwood. The main raw material for pellet production in Portugal is roundwood obtained from Pinus pinaster forests, but the activity is developed without an ecological frame, and presently represents a serious problem of sustainability to the Portuguese forest sector and to the internal economy. It is relevant to mention that in Portugal not much private forest is certified via frameworks as FSC or PEFC.
In this paper we propose a new indicator to assess the production capacity of pellets per forest area, I-PelletsForest and to support forest management practices and policies. ipeitetsForest is a tool to help decision makers to understand the dimension of the market production in relation to the forest area available, by economic region. Instead of capacity, the Portuguese real pellet productivity capacity in the period-2009-2012 in Portugal was 1068 Mt, which surpassed the total production of Central and South America, Africa and Oceania, and matched that of the entire Asian region, representing the most important pellet production region in the world. In conclusion, Portuguese real pellet productivity capacity per forest area is 344.7 t/ha (total forest ecosystem area) and 1526.3 (only P. pinaster forest ecosystem area).

• 出版日期2016-9