Dialogue on governance to develop sustainable forest landscapes for production of wood for energy and the bioeconomy

Sustainable forest management and bioenergy in the Baltic states

Meelis Seedre (moderator)
Head of Forest Department, Ministry of the Environment of Estonia.

I love forest and I can see the forest behind the trees! I have spent all my life trying to understand forest, during the past 15 years mostly scientifically. Today, I develop and implement forest policy for Estonian 2.3 million hectares of forest.

Previoulsly, I was leading the broad strategic impact evaluation of Estonian Forestry Development Plan 2030. Where it was my job to make sure that the plan will be as good as possible. I have been one of the architects of the novel evaluation methodology. My expertise is focused on boreal and temperate forest carbon dynamics, growth, disturbances and management. Also on climate change effects, mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity and recently continuous cover forestry (i.e. uneven-aged forestry).

I am especially well informed about Nordic and Baltic forestry. I believe forest and forestry have a lot to offer for the world. My work has included complex project management, methodology development, broad impact evaluation, field and laboratory work, statistical modelling, systematic reviewing, lecturing, presenting, mentoring, supervising, journal editing and peer-reviewing. I have written many scientific and popular science articles, opinions and grant applications. I have participated in many public opinion panels, TV shows and press conferences.

Āris Jansons
Senior researcher, Latvian State forest Research Institute SILAVA.

Āris is leading the development of tree breeding program for main commercial tree species in Latvia, now being implemented in practice, to produce seed material for regeneration of ⁓10,000 ha of forest annually. Currently.

His main research topics are related to forest adaptation (natural disturbances, such as wind and fire), including development of forest wind resistance models and recommendations for establishment and management of resilient forest stands. He also conducts assessment and modelling of carbon balances in old-growth and pristine forest.

Kristjan Tõnisson
Member of the Management Board, Nature Use, State Forest Management Centre (RMK), Estonia.

Kristjan has educational background in forest management and environmental sciences from Estonia and the UK, respectively. With a 25-year career in both public and private sector, his main focus has been on sustainability of forest management in broader sense, but environment and nature conservation related matters in particular.

He has contributed to the structural reforms of public forest administration in Estonia, worked as an auditor of FSC forest certification standards in many countries of Europe as well as Russia. Since 2007, he has been working in the State Forest Management Centre of Estonia. In his current position as member of the management board, he is responsible for nature protection and restoration activities as well and visitor management.

Guntars Šnepsts
Researcher, Latvian State Forest Research Institute (SILAVA).

Guntars has been working at the Latvian Forest Research Institute "SILAVA" since 2005. His work focus on the Latvian national forest inventory, where he organizes the work of field teams, and perform control measurements and annual calculations of forest resources. He is also the Head of the SILAVA Forest Resource Forecasting System. He participate in various scientific research related to forestry and forest resources.

Nerijus Kupstaitis
Head of Forest Policy Group, Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania.

Nerijus Kupstaitis is Head of the Forest Policy Group, Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania, where he was previously the Chief Adviser of the Policy Group of Nature Protection and Forest Department.

Before 2017, he held several leading and specialist positions in the Forest Department of the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania. Nerijus’ key expertise is within forest policy, silviculture, forest management and other forestry-related fields.

He has comprehensive expert knowledge and more than 20 years of experience with analysis of forestry-related national and EU level legal framework, for example drafting national forestry-related legal acts, including the Law on Forest. He also has comprehensive experience with adaptation of national legal acts to EU legislation and other international commitments in the forest sector.

Additionally, Nerijus has more than 20 years’ of experience with preparation of forestry-related national strategy documents and development programmes, and he participated in the creation of the national legal regulatory system for the private forests sector.

Ieva Saleniece
Project manager, LIFE-IP LatViaNature, Nature Conservation Agency in Latvia.

Ieva Saleniece is LIFE-IP LatViaNature project manager in the Nature Conservation Agency of Latvia. She holds M. Sc degree in Pollution and Environmental Control from the University of Manchester, U.K. and a degree in Law from the University of Latvia. Ieva has extensive experience in the environmental field, and has direct knowledge of climate policy.

Erik Buchwald
Forest Ecologist, Danish Nature Agency.

Erik Buchwald, forester and ecologist (PhD) at the Danish Nature Agency, has worked with forest management, forest health, Natura 2000 and with natural forest terminology and biodiversity since 1987.

For the time being he is national project leader for the implementation of the Danish Government´s 2016-2020 decisions to restore about two thirds of the nation´s state forests to a more natural state and afterwards manage them as minimum-intervention reserves for protection and restoration of biodiversity - thus enlarging the Danish area of forest designated as protected untouched forest from about 6.000 to 75.000 hectares from 2016 to 2026.

Verification of compliance with sustainability requirements for forest bioenergy

Liviu Nichiforel
Assistant Professor, Forestry Faculty, Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava, Romania.

Liviu Nichiforel holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Governance from “Albert-Ludwigs” University of Freiburg, Germany and a PhD in Forest Economics from the “Ștefan cel Mare” University of Suceava. His main research interest refers to the analysis of differences in forest governance frameworks across Europe.

His latest national research project proposes the development of a new forest policy framework in Romania. He has also worked as an independent consultant for different projects including the implementation of forest certification in Romania.

Roman Polyachenko
Assurance Manager, Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP).

Roman joined SBP in April 2020 as Assurance Manager to oversee and manage SBP’s global operating assurance system. Before joining the team at SBP, he worked for 12 years at the Certification Body, NEPCon, as a Supply Chain Integrity Program Manager.

Roman is a forestry professional with international experience within the forestry and timber sector, environmental auditing, assurance systems, and training delivery. As an auditor and manager, he has worked with many different wood processing, biomass, and paper companies in different parts of the world. Other experiences include leading projects, developing training programmes, organising workshops, writing technical handbooks, building assurance procedures, supporting quality management, and supervising a team of technical specialists and auditors.

Roman is a trained FSC, PEFC, RSPO Chain of Custody auditor, and was also a lead trainer in NEPCon’s FSC Chain of Custody and Controlled Wood Expert programme. He holds a Master’s degree in Forest Industry from the Estonian University of Life Sciences, and also participated in the Euroforester programme at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Roman is based in Estonia.

Gerimantas Gaigalas
Forestry Director for Europe and Russia, Preferred by Nature (PfN), based in Lithuania.

Gerimantas Gaigalas has Master‘s degree on Forestry (graduated in Lithuanian Academy of Agriculture), BSc degree in Law and Master‘s degree in International Law (graduated in University of Mykolas Romeris) and diploma in programming (Electronic College in Vilnius). He has experience leading the International Relations and Agreements Division in the Ministry of Environment as well as experience working in United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Papua New Guinea regional office and Institute of Environment Sustainability of EU Commission in Italy. Gerimantas is working in Preferred by Nature since 2013 and now is in the position of Forestry Director for Europe / Russia. He also has experience and is active lead auditor for FSC Forest Management (FM), FSC Chain of Custody (CoC), PEFC CoC, SBP (Sustainable Biomass Program) and FM Legal Source certification schemes.

Mārcis Sakalaurs
Latvian Forest Owners' cooperative “Mežsaimnieks”.

Aidas Pivoriūnas
Project and Stakeholder Engagement Manager Baltic States at Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Managing Director of Private Forest Owners Association in Lithuania, private forest management consultant.

Aidas is an experienced consultant working as a forest management consult for industry, who is skilled in crisis management, nonprofit organizations, negotiation, sustainable development, and forest management. He holds Licentiate of Philosophy degree in forest economics from The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

He is currently working with FSC International as Head of Technical Working Group for the Interim National Stewardship Standard for Latvia, and a Moderator and Head of Standard Development Group for National FSC Standard for Lithuania.

He is an elected member of the presidium of the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists, and of the Board of the Association of Independent Wood Measurers of Lithuania. Additionally, he is an appointed member of the Consultancy Council of Forests under the Ministry of Environment in Lithuania.

Puneet Dwivedi
Associate Professor, University of Georgia, USA Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources.

Dr. Puneet Dwivedi is an Associate Professor of Sustainability Sciences at the University of Georgia Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources – the oldest forestry school in the Southern United States established in 1906.

He specializes in sustainable bioenergy development, family forest landowners, forest markets, and forest-based ecosystem services. He has published extensively on topics related to the sustainability of southern US forestry resources. He has also advised 20 graduate students and four postdocs as a major professor so far.

He was awarded Excellence in Research and Development Award by the Southeastern Chapter of the Society of American Foresters in 2019.

Rolf Hogan
Senior Sustainability Expert

Rolf is a senior international sustainability expert with more than twenty years’ experience promoting international best practice with industry, civil society, government, and UN organisations. He has broad experience in sustainability spanning global biodiversity policy, field conservation programmes, NGO campaigns and working with industry in the transport, energy and FMCG sectors.

Rolf has worked with large international NGOs such as WWF and IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) as well as leading a ‘start-up’ certification organisation – RSB-Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (www.rsb.org). He has also worked as a freelance writer/journalist and managed a diversity of projects across five continents.

Rolf’s expertise is in organisational strategy, strategic communications, organisational/project reviews, and stakeholder engagement. He is currently providing consultancy services in collaboration with EarthMind (https://earthmind.org) and as a Senior Associate with INCAS Consulting (www.incasconsulting.com). Current projects include the revision of the theory of change for an international sustainable certification organisation and establishing a national policy coordination mechanism for NGOs in Russia.

Andris Vanags
Gren, Latvia Country Manager.

Andris Vanags is Latvia Country Manager of Gren – the Northern European green energy company that focuses on developing and providing sustainable energy solutions, primarily district heating, to meet its local communities' needs in their daily lives while having a positive impact on the environment.

Andris Vanags has more than 20 years of experience in energy industry, project management, site supervision and energy consulting. He has taken different managerial positions in some of the largest DH companies in Latvia and has worked as a project manager for the construction of several large power plants and boiler plants.

Andris Vanags is taking an active role in several NGOs - Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LTRK), Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Latvia (FCCL), Latvian Renewable Energy Federation (LAEF), Latvia Wind Energy Association, Foreign Investors' Council in Latvia (FICIL), Latvian Association of DH Companies (LSUA) and Latvian Bioenergy Association (LBEA). Andris Vanags is holding University Degree in Engineering from Riga Technical University and has numerous certificates from professional qualification courses.

Sune Balle-Hansen
Biomass Sustainability Lead, Biomass Procurement and Logistics, HOFOR.

Sune Balle Hansen is the Biomass Sustainability Lead in Biomass Procurement and Logistics at HOFOR, Greater Copenhagen Utility. HOFOR uses wood pellets and woodchips to fuel its combined heat and power plant that feeds into the Copenhagen district heating grid.

Currently, Sune holds the responsibility for operational compliance with HOFOR’s biomass sustainability policies, regulatory requirements and biomass sustainability certifications, which includes regular direct contact with HOFOR’s biomass supply chain.

Sune’s career spans engineering and sustainability research in the private sector as well as in academia. He holds an MSc and PhD in Environmental Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark.

How to calculate and model where and when forest bioenergy can help to save carbon emissions?

Tuesday, 26 October 2021, 14.00-18.00 Eastern European Summer Time (EEST)

Niclas Scott Bentsen (moderator)
Associate professor, University of Copenhagen.

Niclas’ research and teaching targets four main areas: 1) Biomass resources - Quantification and characterisation of biomass resources from agriculture and forestry on local to global scales, 2) Resource allocation - How can we allocate biomass resources to different uses, mainly energy, to maximise utility and minimise negative impacts, 3) Climate impacts of bioenergy - Although considered carbon neutral bioenergy and biomass exploitation has its impact on GHG gas emissions either through direct GHG emissions, through altered CO2 sequestration potential or through so-called indirect effects mediated by economic dynamics.

Quantifying the true climate impact of biomass use requires due consideration of physical, biological and economic dynamics, 4) Sustainability of bioenergy - Sustainability is more that climate impacts. His research also targets quantification of other potential impacts of bioenergy within the environmental, social and economic pillars of sustainability using different tools as e.g. LCA, Lifecycle thinking, Material Flow Analysis.

He is the Danish National Team leader of IEA Bioenergy Task 45 on “Climate and Sustainability Effects of Bioenergy within the broader Bioeconomy”.

Viorel Nelu Bellmondo Blujdea graduated forestry (1993) and has a PhD in forest ecology (2000) from Transilvania University of Brasov (Romania). He is involved in research activities on modelling the carbon dynamics in forest management, wood use and land use conversions. As a researcher he records some 70 publications (h-index = 15, i10-index = 22, 924 citations, according to Google scholar).

His professional record includes experience in the private sector, offering technical and scientific support on national GHG inventories, LULUCF accounting and GHG projections for land sector to national governments (developed and developing countries), European Commission, UNDP, World Bank, etc. Currently, he works as a project officer in the Bioeconomy Unit of the Joint Research Center of the European Commission. He is an accredited UNFCCC reviewer for national GHG inventory, national communications and biennial reports and a former independent expert in European Commission LULUCF Expert Group.

Annikki Mäkelä
Professor, Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland
Annikki has been professor of silviculture / applied ecology since 2005. Her research field is production ecology, with special interest in understanding how trees capture resources and how they allocate them to form a spectrum of structures that appear well adapted to the prevailing environment.

She is leading the department’s Forest Modelling Research Group, which develops theories and models about tree functioning, structure, and growth, and applies these to examine impacts of forest management under changing environmental conditions and alternative management objectives. The group also belongs to the Helsinki University, Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR). Her basic degree is in systems theory from Helsinki University of Technology (now Aalto University) and her PhD is in forestry.

Ondřej Tarabus
Ondřej Tarabus is a Climate Program Manager at Preferred by Nature. He received his master degree at Forestry Faculty in Prague. He worked as an environmental consultant with a specialization in carbon management.

He is also experienced with different forest management certification using FSC standard and has participated in forest management and chain of custody audits in number of different continents. He has been involved in the ISCC and SBP certifications in the early stages of these programs. Ondřej has participated in several development projects in forestry, carbon and biomass fields in Latin America, Asia and Europe. At the moment he is responsible for climate services, including biomass where his involvement is mostly through SBP certification and their own Responsible Biomass program.

He is also engaged in different projects in the biomass sustainability field such as SBP Risk Assessment in several countries in Europe, evaluation of different verification systems, benchmarking of certification schemes or smallholder biomass project in Vietnam.

Carolyn Smyth
Research Scientist, Pacific Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Victoria, British Columbia

Carolyn’s research includes assessments of climate change mitigation scenarios for Canada’s forest sector including the ecosystem GHG balance, harvested wood product C tracking, bioenergy and biofuels, and substitution benefits of using wood in place of other emissions-intensive products and fossil fuel burning.

In addition, she has contributed to Canada’s National Inventory Reports, Emissions Projection Reports, an IPCC TSU expert meeting on National GHG Inventories, and has collaborated on North American C Modeling through the Commission for Environmental Cooperation.

Raimonds Kašs
Acting Director of Climate Change Department in Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development of the Republic of Latvia.

Raimonds has graduated from Faculty of Power and Electrical Engineering of Riga Technical University where he obtained a master’s degree in environmental science, previously also bachelor’s degree in electrical science.

From 2002 Raimonds works in the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development of the Republic of Latvia. Raimonds’ field of professional activity is development of legal acts and policy planning documents in field of climate policy, implementation of existing Emission Allowance Auctioning Instrument, as well as involvement in preparation of new climate finance mechanisms and instruments in Latvia.

Together with colleagues, Raimonds ensures cooperation with other ministries to promote the integration of greenhouse gas emissions and climate resilience objectives into sectoral policies.

Andis Lazdiņš
Senior Researcher, Latvian State Forest Research Institute SILAVA.

Justin Tait
Head of Sustainability, Europe at Enviva.

Justin Tait is the Head of Sustainability in Europe at Enviva, the world’s largest producer of sustainable wood pellets that provide power and utility companies around the globe with a low-carbon alternative to fossil fuels. Based in the United Kingdom, Mr. Tait is responsible for ensuring that Enviva delivers sustainably sourced “good biomass” to its customers in the UK and Europe that meet globally recognized standards and Enviva’s own Responsible Sourcing Policy Mr. Tait is also responsible for engaging with European policymakers and external stakeholders on regulatory matters pertaining to climate change and environmental stewardship by Enviva.

With more than two decades of experience working with several blue-chip companies on sustainable sourcing and on improving operations to reduce energy, water and waste in their supply chains, Mr. Tait joined the Enviva team in 2018. Impassioned to help businesses transition to more sustainable practices at scale, Mr. Tait has collaborated with suppliers, academics, policy makers and NGOs to improve environmental performance and the benefits this can bring to business and actors in their supply chains.

Throughout his tenure at Enviva, he has worked to support and promote Enviva’s Responsible Sourcing Policy – wood sourcing guidelines that reflect Enviva’s commitment to the highest standards of sustainability, integrity, forest stewardship and continual improvement – as well as Track & Trace® – an innovative technology for monitoring, tracking and reporting exactly where all Enviva’s wood is sourced.

Richard Peberdy
Head of sustainable Forests, Drax Power Station, UK.

After university Richard spent 10 years running a small forestry business in North Wales. This was followed by twenty years working for a large forest management company in the UK. From 2012 to the present, Richard has worked for Drax, spending nearly seven years in US South as Drax established supplies from that region, and from Canada (especially British Columbia). Today Richard works closely with suppliers and the Drax sustainability team to monitor the regions from Drax sources. This enables Drax to ensure that its sourcing activities sustain forests and provide low carbon feedstocks to Drax power station and other users of Drax pellets.

Research to underpin future policies related to sustainable forest management
and wood end-uses

Wednesday, 27 October 2021, 14.00-18.00 Eastern European Summer Time (EEST)

Āris Jansons (moderator)
Senior researcher, Latvian State forest Research Institute SILAVA.

Āris is leading the development of tree breeding program for main commercial tree species in Latvia, now being implemented in practice, to produce seed material for regeneration of ⁓10,000 ha of forest annually.

Currently, his main research topics are related to forest adaptation (natural disturbances, such as wind and fire), including development of forest wind resistance models and recommendations for establishment and management of resilient forest stands. He also conducts assessment and modelling of carbon balances in old-growth and pristine forest.

Lauri Hetemäki
Professor of Practice at the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Helsinki and a Senior Researcher at the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance, European Forest Institute (EFI).

Lauri Hetemäki has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Helsinki. Previously, he has worked as the Assistant Director of EFI; Professor in Forest Sector Foresight at the University of Eastern Finland; and Senior Researcher and Project Leader at the Finnish Forest Research Institute.

Hetemäki has been a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Haas Business School, University of California, Berkeley; at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria; and at the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Canberra. Lauri has extensive experience in science-policy support work, e.g. in European Parliament, European Commission and national Governments and Parliaments, as well as coordinating pan-European science-policy studies.

He is an author of over 240 scientific and popular publications. Hetemäki is a Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry.

Iveta is a Senior researcher and Head of Department of Silviculture and Ecology at Lithuanian Research Center for Agriculture and Forestry (LAMMC). She has received both her BSc and MSc from Lithuanian Agricultural University, Faculty of Forestry, and her PhD from Vytautas Magnus University in Ecology and Environmental Sciences. Currently, her research topics are related to forest ecology, soil and plant chemistry, carbon evaluation, forest biomass in Scots pine forests, effects of climatic conditions on forest ecosystems.

Diana Lukmine
Senior Researcher, Lithuanian Research Center for Agriculture and Forestry, (LAMMC).

Diana works as a Senior Research at Institute of Forestry, Lithuanian Research Centre of Agriculture and Forestry (LAMMC). Her research activities relate to analysis of the forest management economics and sustainability in public and private forests. Her background in Social Sciences (Economics).

Expertise and research interests include evaluation of forest management sustainability, forest policy processes and governance analysis, innovation in the forestry sector, forest ownership types and forest owner’s behaviour. She is co-author of nine books or chapters of books, more than 40 articles in previewed journals, and more than 30 oral presentations in international and national conferences, and participated in more than 30 applied research projects and 9 international projects.

Andis Lazdins
Senior researcher, Latvian State Forest Research Institute (SILAVA), Latvia.

Dagnija Lazdina
Senior researcher, Latvian State Forest Research Institute (SILAVA), Latvia.

Kristi Nigul
HD Forest AS Client Relation Manager and METSAlahendused Manager, and PhD student at Estonian University of Life Sciences (EMU).

Forestry is one big part of Kristi’s life. She has a BSc and MSc in forestry from the Estonian University of Life Sciences and is currently finalizing her PhD studies. She has been working in forest sector for more than 10 years, but have been related with forestry most of her life.

For the purpose of her PhD studies, she also studied and worked with other scientists abroad, for example a semester at University of Minnesota, in the USA. In her daily work, she deals with several aspects of forest management, including certifications (PEFC, FSC, and SBP), investments in forestry, and communication with clients.

She has been involved in different certification working groups, for example to update the Estonian National PEFC forest management standard. She also spends much of her spare time in the nature, for example hiking or fishing.

C. Tattersall (Tat) Smith
Professor and Dean Emeritus (Forestry) at the University of Toronto, Canada

Dr. Tat Smith held the positions as Professor and Dean (Forestry) and Department of Geography and Planning at University of Toronto 2005-2019, and held corresponding positions at Department of Forest Science at Texas A&M University; New Zealand Forest Research Institute; and Department of Forest Resources, University of New Hampshire.

He served in international collaboration leadership roles for IEA Bioenergy from 1994 to 2019; was founding member and past Chair of the Board of Directors of the Invasive Species Centre; Past President of the Canadian Institute of Forestry; Fellow of the Society of American Foresters; and past member of the Board of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI).

Tat’s major research contributions have been in the area of developing sustainable forest management (SFM) systems for bioenergy feedstock production and land application of wastewater effluent and biosolids to determine the environmental impacts of bioenergy production in plantation and natural forests; the utility of environmental certification systems defining SFM standards and criteria and indicators for developing reliable SFM practices; and the impact of intensive harvesting on forest ecosystem nutrient and carbon cycling and stocks and site productivity.

David M. Morris
Research Scientist, Forest Stand Ecology, Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF), Ontario.

Dr. Morris received both his BScF and MScF from Lakehead University and his PhD from the University of Guelph in Environmental Biology. Dave has been a research scientist with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry since 1986, and is currently the Stand Ecology Program Leader at the Centre for Northern Forest Ecosystem Research in Thunder Bay, ON.

His research program focuses on nutrient cycling in boreal systems, with particular emphasis on evaluating the impacts of forest disturbance, including biomass harvesting systems, on stand structural development, stand nutrition, and productivity. His research has been instrumental in the development of Ontario’s forest management guidelines with respect to biofibre harvest, with ongoing research efforts designed to evaluate the effectiveness of these guidelines within an adaptive management framework.

Puneet Dwivedi
Associate Professor, University of Georgia, USA Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources.

Dr. Puneet Dwivedi is an Associate Professor of Sustainability Sciences at the University of Georgia Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources – the oldest forestry school in the Southern United States established in 1906.

He specializes in sustainable bioenergy development, family forest landowners, forest markets, and forest-based ecosystem services. He has published extensively on topics related to the sustainability of southern US forestry resources. He has also advised 20 graduate students and four postdocs as a major professor so far. He was awarded Excellence in Research and Development Award by the Southeastern Chapter of the Society of American Foresters in 2019.

Joint talk on forest research in the Nordic countries

Helja-Sisko Helmisaari
Professor in Forest Soil Science, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Sciences.

Dr. Helmisaari received both her BScF and MScF from University of Helsinki and her PhD from the University of Joensuu (currently University of Eastern Finland) in Forest Sciences. Heljä-Sisko has been professor in Forest Soil Science since 2010, before which she worked at the Finnish Forest Research Institute (currently Natural Resources Institute Finland).

Her research has focused on biogeochemistry, especially carbon and nutrient dynamics in forest ecosystems in relation to environmental changes and forest management, including biomass harvesting.

In 2012 she was the main organizer of a workshop on Forest bioenergy and soil sustainability, that led to the collection and review of biomass harvesting guidelines from different jurisdictions around the world by 16 researchers, finally published in 2021 (Titus et al. 2021, Sustainable forest biomass: a review of current residue harvesting guidelines. Energy, Sustainability and Society (2021) 11:10).

Nicholas Clarke
Research Professor, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO).

Dr. Nicholas Clarke holds a PhD in analytical chemistry applied to natural fresh waters, from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. He has worked at NIBIO for 25 years, mostly on environmental issues related to forest and forestry, including the carbon cycle, forests and water, and the effect of forestry measures on forest soil and water.

He has led and participated in several Norwegian and international projects on the ecological effects of intensive biomass harvesting for bioenergy. He was previously chair of the Expert Panel on Deposition of ICP Forests.

Lars Högbom
Associated professor, SkogForsk, Sweden.

Lars’ research focuses on impacts of forest management and forest operations on forest water, carbon and nutrients, as well as translating research into practical guidance on how to minimize undesirable impacts of forest management. He is also an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the Department of Forest Ecology and Management at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Inge Stupak
Associate professor, University of Copenhagen

Inge holds a degree in Forestry, and a PhD in Forest Ecology. Her research focus since 1993 has been on the impacts of woody biomass production and intensive harvesting in forest on nutrient and carbon balances and site fertility.

Since 2000, she has coordinated and worked in Nordic-Baltic various research projects and networks, and since 2006, she has been engaged in international collaborations under IEA Bioenergy, especially publications on governing forest biomass sustainability.

Since 2009, she has been co-responsible for planning, implementation, data analysis and publishing results from the national Danish Forest Soil Inventory, as a basis for the national inventory reporting of LULUCF greenhouse gas emissions. She was National Team Leader in IEA Bioenergy Task 43, Biomass Feedstocks for Energy Markets (2013-2018), and is Alternate National Team Leader of IEA Bioenergy Task 45, Climate and Sustainability Effects of Bioenergy within the broader Bioeconomy (2019-2021).