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12. Social innovation to address sustainability challenges and enlarge the opportunities provided by forests for a green and just transition of marginalised mountain areasMaria Nijnik, Simo Sarkki, Mariana Melnykovych, David Miller, 2023, published scientific conference contribution (invited lecture) Keywords: natural capital, ecosystem services, woodlands, communities, stakeholder engagement, sustainability, resilience
Published in DiRROS: 04.10.2023; Views: 543; Downloads: 174
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13. Mass concrete with EAF steel slag aggregate : workability, strength, temperature rise, and environmental performanceDavor Kvočka, Jakob Šušteršič, Alenka Mauko Pranjić, Ana Mladenovič, 2022, original scientific article Abstract: Temperature control is the primary concern during the design and construction process of mass concrete structures. As the concrete production has an enormous negative environmental impact, the development of green mass concretes will eventually become as important as the thermal characteristics. Therefore, this paper investigates the use of Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) steel slag aggregate for the partial replacement of the natural aggregate in the production of mass concrete. The impact of EAF steel aggregate on mass concrete workability, strength, and thermal behaviour was analysed. In addition, a cradle-to-gate LCA study was conducted to evaluate the environmental footprint and sustainability potential of the tested mass concrete mixtures. The study results suggest that the use of EAF steel slag aggregate in combination with a low-heat cement with a high content of blast furnace slag can significantly lower the temperature, reduce the environmental impact, and increase the sustainability potential of mass concrete, while at the same time providing sufficient workability and compressive strength. The study results indicate that EAF steel slag can be upcycled into an aggregate for the production of green mass concrete mixtures.
Keywords: mass concrete, thermal stress, EAF steel slag, green concrete, LCA, sustainability, open access
Published in DiRROS: 31.05.2023; Views: 502; Downloads: 327
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14. A methodological proposal for the climate change risk assessment of coastal habitats based on the evaluation of ecosystem services : lessons learnt from the INTERREG project ECO-SMARTAlberto Barausse, Cécil J. W. Meulenberg, Irene Occhipinti, Marco Abordi, Lara Endrizzi, Giovanna Guadagnin, Mirco Piron, Francesca Visintin, Liliana Vižintin, Alessandro Manzardo, 2022, original scientific article Abstract: Climate change is seriously impacting coastal biodiversity and the benefits it provides to humans. This issue is particularly relevant in the case of the European Union’s Natura 2000 network of areas for nature protection, where the sensitivity of local ecosystems calls for intervention to increase resistance and resilience to climate-related risks. Given the complex ways in which climate can influence conservation hotspot areas, there is a need to develop effective strategic approaches and general operational models to identify priorities for management and inform adaptation and mitigation measures. Here, a novel methodological proposal to perform climate risk assessment in Natura 2000 sites is presented that implements the systematic approach of ISO 14090 in combination with the theoretical framework of ecosystem services assessment and local stakeholder participation to identify climate-related issues for local protected habitats and improve the knowledge base needed to plan sustainable conservation and restoration measures. The methodology was applied to five Natura 2000 sites located along the Adriatic coast of Italy and Slovenia. Results show that each of the assessed sites, despite being along the coast of the same sea, is affected by different climate-related issues, impacting different habitats and corresponding ecosystem services. This novel methodology enables a simple and rapid screening for the prioritization of conservation actions and of the possible further investigations needed to support decision making, and was found to be robust and of general applicability. These findings highlight the importance of designing site-specific adaptation measures, tailored to address the peculiar response to climate change of each site in terms of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Keywords: ecosystem, ecosystem services, climate change adaptation, nature conservation, sustainability, coastal management
Published in DiRROS: 01.07.2022; Views: 845; Downloads: 543
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15. Growing stock monitoring by European National Forest Inventories : historical origins, current methods and harmonisationThomas Gschwantner, Iciar Alberdi, Sébastien Bauwens, Susann Bender, Dragan Borota, Michal Bošela, Olivier Bouriaud, Johannes Breidenbach, Janis Donis, Christoph Fischer, Mitja Skudnik, 2022, original scientific article Abstract: Wood resources have been essential for human welfare throughout history. Also nowadays, the volume of growing stock (GS) is considered one of the most important forest attributes monitored by National Forest Inventories (NFIs) to inform policy decisions and forest management planning. The origins of forest inventories closely relate to times of early wood shortage in Europe causing the need to explore and plan the utilisation of GS in the catchment areas of mines, saltworks and settlements. Over time, forest surveys became more detailed and their scope turned to larger areas, although they were still conceived as stand-wise inventories. In the 1920s, the first sample-based NFIs were introduced in the northern European countries. Since the earliest beginnings, GS monitoring approaches have considerably evolved. Current NFI methods differ due to country-specific conditions, inventory traditions, and information needs. Consequently, GS estimates were lacking international comparability and were therefore subject to recent harmonisation efforts to meet the increasing demand for consistent forest resource information at European level. As primary large-area monitoring programmes in most European countries, NFIs assess a multitude of variables, describing various aspects of sustainable forest management, including for example wood supply, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity. Many of these contemporary subject matters involve considerations about GS and its changes, at different geographic levels and time frames from past to future developments according to scenario simulations. Due to its historical, continued and currently increasing importance, we provide an up-to-date review focussing on large-area GS monitoring where we i) describe the origins and historical development of European NFIs, ii) address the terminology and present GS definitions of NFIs, iii) summarise the current methods of 23 European NFIs including sampling methods, tree measurements, volume models, estimators, uncertainty components, and the use of air- and space-borne data sources, iv) present the recent progress in NFI harmonisation in Europe, and v) provide an outlook under changing climate and forest-based bioeconomy objectives.
Keywords: forest history, natural resources, sustainability, timber volume, sampling, remote sensing, bioeconomy, climate change
Published in DiRROS: 14.12.2021; Views: 956; Downloads: 691
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16. A system for quality assessment of forestry contractorsMatevž Triplat, Nike Krajnc, 2021, original scientific article Abstract: Skilled contractors are needed to meet the increased demand for wood and to maintain a competitive edge in forestry. The structure of the forest industry has changed significantly. Today%s situation favours smaller contractors that are more flexible. Worldwide contractors are important for forest operations, but there is often limited knowledge about how well they fulfil demands about resource efficiency, social responsibility and environmental protection. The aim of this paper is to present the guidelines for the assessment of forestry contractors following sustainability principles and to present a recently developed system. In addition to the requirements for professional competences and legislative obligations, the system proposes a number of additional requirements such as corporate social responsibility, participation in the local community and greater environmental responsibility. The forestry contractor and the certification body sign a cooperation agreement to obtain the expert assessment. The expert assessment is performed by an evaluator authorised by a certification body. A web service has been introduced with the purpose of serving as a communication tool between professional evaluators and forestry contractors, as well as providing a new possibility for forest owners to get direct contact with forestry contractors. The system enables its users to exert influence on the assessment of forestry contractors by assessing the quality of their services. Private forests would greatly benefit from customer feedback information on the service quality. By now, 1584 forest contractors have registered in Slovenia, where 67% provide the service of cutting and skidding, 8% provide woodchipper service, 7% transport of round wood, 5% cable crane yarding and 4% fully mechanised harvesting. Until June 2020, 142 forest contractors have gone through the process of quality assessment.
Keywords: services, entrepreneurs, sustainability, evaluation, operations, management
Published in DiRROS: 26.01.2021; Views: 1281; Downloads: 832
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