Drawing comparisons between Ireland and other EU countries in relation to performance in the forestry and forest products sector, might seem like a premature exercise given our low forest cover and lack of a wood culture.

Yet, by taking part in the EU project Sustainable Innovative Mobilisation of Wood (SIMWOOD), it was impossible not to compare Ireland with other European countries. So, how do we compare? The answer depends on what EU member state you happen to be in.

Visit the Auvergne in France where forest owners don’t even know the location of their properties or compare Irish producer groups and forestry co-operatives with fragmented groups in Portugal and Ireland is faring well. Hear how forests in Germany are achieving multipurpose objectives or visit Sweden’s forestry co-operative Södra with its 51,000 members and you realise that Ireland is only beginning the journey.

Wood mobilisation

Since SIMWOOD was established in 2013, participants have visited a number of countries – including Ireland – to see at first hand how wood mobilisation is addressed. The final port of call was Växjö in southern Sweden where forestry is practised to the highest environmental and commercial standards. This is the model Ireland would aspire to from nursery production to finished product.

In the Sveaskog-owned forest northeast of Växjö, we were introduced to harvesting by experienced well-trained operators who had received an intensive one-year training course with follow-up refresher modules. In a mainly Scot’s pine crop with some birch, 40m3/ha was harvested from a selective first thinning at year 35 in a crop which had a stocking of 150m3. A further 15m3 of lop and top were extracted as biomass for wood energy. First thinning are much later in Sweden than Ireland as yield class (m3/ha/annum) rarely exceeds 10, less than half the yield of Irish conifer crops.

Driving around Växjö, you cannot escape the presence of Södra, the giant forestry co-operative, which has 51,000 members who own 2.5m ha of forests or half of all private forests in southern Sweden.

Åke Carlsson, who is a forest owner and member of Södra and SIMWOOD, explained the importance of the co-operative to growers. Södra is a multifaceted company with sales of €1.9bn with an annual processing capacity of over 15m m3 from their eight sawmills and three pulp mills. It also invests heavily in its nurseries, as well as research programmes including biofuel and engineered wood construction.

How do we compare

So how do we compare? We have much ground to make up to achieve anywhere near the economies of scale in other EU member states. This will require a renewed afforestation programme and major drive by private growers to mobilise wood.

However, much of the structure required to develop a viable industry is already in place from nurseries to timber processing. Allowing for the opportunities to increase forest cover in Ireland unlike other EU countries and pressure to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, many participants couldn’t understand why forestry wasn’t pivotal in our economy especially regarding the role it could play in climate change mitigation and helping agriculture to achieve GHG emission targets.

Granhults Kyrka – still standing after 800 years

Most low-rise housing in Sweden is constructed in wood but, surprisingly, high-rise construction is behind other countries with strong wood cultures such as Norway and Austria. The reason Swedish construction stayed low-rise for so long was due to a ban on building in wood above two storeys because of fire risk.

The ban which existed from 1874 was lifted in 1994 and led to the construction of buildings up to seven storeys in wood. Plans are under way to reach 10 storeys, although the Swedes are still well behind the Norwegians who have already built a 14-storey (53m) apartment block in engineered wood in Bergen.

However, the Swedes are likely to catch up quickly and they have a rich culture to draw on for inspiration such as Granhults Kyrka 30km northeast of the Växjö. It’s the oldest entirely preserved wooden church in Sweden, with the oldest sections dating to the early 1200s.

In nearby Växjö, regarded as the greenest city in the world, plans are well under way to build a “modern wooden city”. Already, seven-storey buildings in engineered wood have been constructed in a collaborative project between the city municipality, Södra, Midroc Property Development and the University of Växjö.

After four years of collaboration between 13 EU member states, the SIMWOOD project ended in October. It had the ambitious aim to increase the mobilisation of wood from forests in Europe. Ireland took part in the project along with 10 SMEs in 16 EU regions because we face similar challenges in wood mobilisation.

These are stark not just for Ireland but for Europe where the total expected demand for timber will increase to 853m m3 by 2030 with the highest demand expected in bioenergy. The challenge would seem surmountable as the annual increment in European forests is approximately 800m m3. Yet, the annual timber harvest is little more than 480m m3, so it is likely that 250m m3 are lost due to poor management or non-management.

But a shortfall of this magnitude presents opportunities for Irish forestry as timber production is forecast to double in Ireland in the next 14 years.

Unique

“What was unique about SIMWOOD is that it recognised the importance of the local, regional and national context to wood mobilisation,” said Dr Aine Ni Dhubhain, UCD, who served on the executive board of SIMWOOD. “Thus, solvable bottlenecks to wood mobilisation within the regions were identified early on and suitable and relevant pilot projects, to address these barriers were trialled,” she said.

“Stakeholders were engaged in designing these and were also engaged in their evaluation including the Irish project carried out in the southeast by the Irish Wood Producers (IWP) Forest Enterprises Limited (FEL) and UCD. This was regarded as an excellent project as it allowed IWP members to gain access to wood energy markets by providing continuity of biomass supply for small and low value timber.”

A total of 22 different pilot projects were initiated. “These included inputs from foresters and forest owners,” she said. “Some trialled technical developments such as new silviculture schemes, sustainable management computer tools and logging operation methods, while others focused on building collaborative initiatives such as owner associations. “Among the outcomes evidenced in the projects was an increase in the number of owners putting woodlands into management and/or forests being managed in a more efficient way with the production of forest products which are better adapted to market demand.”

The final report has been submitted to the European Commission for approval due in March. Details to appear on www.simwood-project.eu.