This project will investigate options for improving the sustainable use of forest resources in selected regions of the NPP area using an innovative sustainability impact assessment tool (ToSIA) and applying it in regional development and business from two perspectives: First, public bodies engaged in regional development strategies will employ the ... More...

This project will investigate options for improving the sustainable use of forest resources in selected regions of the NPP area using an innovative sustainability impact assessment tool (ToSIA) and applying it in regional development and business from two perspectives: First, public bodies engaged in regional development strategies will employ the tool in a multi-stakeholder setting to explore better sustainable development scenarios in the region.

Second, companies using forest resources in the NPP region will adapt the tool to their sustainability assessment routines, enabling them to improve their corporate social responsibility as a part of the whole forestry wood value chain operating in the remote conditions of the NPP region. As a result, the tool will be available for wider application in the NPP area.

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ToSIA stands for Tool for Sustainability Impact Assessment of the Forest Wood Chain and it analyses the sustainability of production processes in the Forest-Wood Chain in terms of social, economic and environmental sustainability indicators. The ToSIA concept has been developed in the EFORWOOD project financed by the FP6 programme, and this NPP pro... More...

ToSIA stands for Tool for Sustainability Impact Assessment of the Forest Wood Chain and it analyses the sustainability of production processes in the Forest-Wood Chain in terms of social, economic and environmental sustainability indicators. The ToSIA concept has been developed in the EFORWOOD project financed by the FP6 programme, and this NPP project tests and develops the tool applications with the aim of adopting the tool for use in the whole NPP area.

The project implementation is based on close cooperation between research, public bodies and forestry businesses. Implementing partners i.e. regional development and forest sector bodies test and apply the Northern ToSIA tool for their functions in North Karelia Finland, in Norrland Sweden, in Scotland and Helgeland, Norway.

European Forest Institute, Swedish University of Agriculture and Forest Research (Scotland) as development partners support the testing and gain feedback for developing the applications and user instructions for applying the tool in the NPP area. The experiences of regions and companies are transferred to the Nordland region in Norway already during the project duration, and the dissemination seminars will introduce the tool for potential users in wider geographical coverage in the Northern Periphery. The viability of project results is sought by defining terms and conditions for use of Northern ToSIA as an open source tool after the conclusion of the project.

In the long term, the Northern ToSIA project aims to improve sustainable forest resource use in the NPP area: the regional development dialogue between research, public administration, business sector, and other stakeholders will be improved, and in turn, this will contribute to efficient and sustainable management and utilisation of resources in the NPP region.

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The project will bring a new decision support tool into use for assessing and enhancing the sustainability impacts of the forestry sector in the NPP area. The ToSIA tool has been developed in the EU RnD programme and this project will enable its customizing for practical application in planning and reporting of e.g. regional development organizatio... More...

The project will bring a new decision support tool into use for assessing and enhancing the sustainability impacts of the forestry sector in the NPP area. The ToSIA tool has been developed in the EU RnD programme and this project will enable its customizing for practical application in planning and reporting of e.g. regional development organizations and the forest industries in the NPP area.

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Reported outcomes The project further developed the Tool for Sustainability Impact Assessment (ToSIA), a software package and methodological approach for assessing ex-ante the sustainability impacts of changes in Forest Wood Chains (FWC) by using indicators of environmental, social, and economic sustainability. Sustainability impact assessment st... More...

Reported outcomes

The project further developed the Tool for Sustainability Impact Assessment (ToSIA), a software package and methodological approach for assessing ex-ante the sustainability impacts of changes in Forest Wood Chains (FWC) by using indicators of environmental, social, and economic sustainability.  Sustainability impact assessment studies how factors such as policy, management or technology development affect the sustainability of a sector or value chain and helps decision-makers to decide which actions should or should not be taken to make society more sustainable.

Project partners have been trained for assessing their case study results in interaction with their stakeholders, using the Multi-Criteria-Analysis (MCA) evaluation module included in ToSIA. Additionally, a local database version of ToSIA has been launched, which allows users to test and work offline with the tool.

The ToSIA tool is applied in four case studies:

1) The Finnish case study aims to analyse sustainability impacts of increased use of forest resources for bioenergy. Alternative bioenergy supply chains were compared using sustainability indicators which were selected by regional stakeholders. The small scale district heating plant showed a higher employment effect, lower cost efficiency and smaller greenhouse gas emissions compared to a medium scale district heating plant. The ToSIA tool was applied to assess sustainability impacts of supply chain modifications in interaction with the managers of the district heating plants.  The tool is also being tested in interaction with regional Forestry Council stakeholders, to ensure its reliability for use when assessing forest resource use scenarios and their effects on regional sustainable development.

 2) The Scottish case study in the Cairngorms National Park is working at two levels: at a forest stand level by assessing various forest management scenarios, and at a National Park level by spatially determining where woodland expansion is suitable. The case study is focused on regional development and multi-functionality of forests, and on examining the impact this has on several sustainability indicators. The case study develops a linkage between a GIS-based heuristic optimization model and ToSIA to generate spatially explicit management alternatives. The selection of scenarios and indicators concerning the case have been developed and discussed with managers and planners from the Cairngorms National Park Authority and numerous regional stakeholders . 

3) The Swedish case study extends the ToSIA applications to include non-forest-wood-chains. The study includesboth the indigenious Sami people’s reindeer husbandry chains and regional forest-wood-chains, which are not linked in their operations but take place on the same forest resource and thus influence each other. Hereby the case investigates challenges and effects of land use between forest industry and reindeer herding:  Indicator data for forestry and for reindeer husbandry chains are collected, checked and discussed in meetings with Sami representatives and other stakeholders.

4) The Norwegian case study investigated how regional sustainability indicators are affected by changes in the local wood processing industry (one saw mill closed down and could possibly be replaced by a new one in the future). Furthermore, the possible impacts of increased forest protection on the local forest and tourism industry are investigated.

In all case studies a main focus has been on discussions and meetings with stakeholders with the focus on their questions (what-would-be-if-scenarios), building of various value chains, accuracy of indicators and applicability of the tool as a decision support tool in each application and area. This has also meant defining the indicators of three categories (ecological, economic and social) suitable for each case study/application. The experiences are now utilized to establish good practice procedures of applying the ToSIA in a participatory process with stakeholder engagement to support regional sustainable development targets.

The dissemination, streamlining and further development of the tool has been started by establishing the ToSIA Management and User Group – TMUG. The members of the TMUG come from different branches of the forest-based sector, industry and research organizations.

The project has networked and co-operated with several other projects: EFORWOOD (EU Framework Programme 6), SMALLEST (NPP 2007-2013), BIOSUS (Finnish Academy of Science) and PELLETtime (NPP 2007-2013). The project has had numerous stakeholder meetings and participated in workshops: Finnish Case – about 50; Scottish Case 18; The Swedish Case 9; and the Norwegian Case 6. (Project Partners’ and internal meetings not included).

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