Pukkala uses a forest planning tool to analyze the carbon balance in a forest under different scenarios. He poses the question whether extraction of wood debris and litter for bioenergy and continuous cover forests increase carbon sequestration. He argues that stump harvesting yields a substitution effect (since fossil fuels can be replaced) but that on the other hand the carbon storage in the forest is reduced, the net result being approximately zero. Replacing clear-cutting and replanting by thinning and continuous cover forestry has a direct positive impact on carbon sequestration. Read the whole article in Forest Policy and Economics.

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