UNITE Flagship researchers are strongly present at the IUFRO World Congress with the theme Forests & Society Towards 2050.
In many sessions, UNITE researchers will present the latest advances in innovative technologies, continuous cover forestry, forest systems and gamified approaches to support more sustainable and economically efficient forest management.
Digital twins and driver assistance systems
UNITE research provides innovations for more sustainable logging operations. Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADASs) can be utilised in the field of forestry to enhance cutting productivity and harvesting quality. At IUFRO, Doctoral Researcher Johannes Pohjala (UEF) will present his results on investigating the effects of harvester operator guiding in thinning work. For example, the effect of prior tree marking on cutting productivity is positive, increasing cutting productivity by 2.7–2.8%.
A detailed country-level Digital Twin of forests could support more economically efficient wood procurement, enable better preserving of biodiversity and provide a basis for various services building on forest information. FGI’s Juha Hyyppä will present the work on the individual tree level digital twin, which is demonstrated in the Metsäkanta forest database. The database is the first information system in the world to apply individual tree based methods for mapping large forest areas with billions of trees.
Book launch about Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF)
To reconcile various and sometimes conflicting goals for ecosystem services, a wide range of forest management approaches and methods are needed. CCF is likely to gain a wider application throughout Fennoscandia in upcoming years.
"Science-based knowledge is needed on the effects of CCF management, to assure a better, more balanced, and targeted provision of goods and services from Nordic forests," says one of the editors, Johanna Routa from the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke).
With the support of the UNITE Flagship, the book ”Continuous Cover Forestry in Boreal Nordic Countries. Managing Forest Ecosystems”, soon to be published by Springer, will be launched during the Congress.
Research on forest system interactions and relationships
UNITE researchers will also present their work relating to many other current topics such as the interactions between game bird habitats and silviculture, the relationship between logging rates and carbon sinks, and drone-based valuation of forest land.
UNITE researcers have also developed gamified forest advisory systems to support forest owners' learning self-efficacy as well as means to support their strong sustainability approaches towards forest use.
The 26th International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) in Stockholm gathers over 4,000 forest researchers and stakeholders from all over the world under the theme, Forests & Society Towards 2050. With over 200 scientific sessions with leading experts, IUFRO presents the latest research, innovations and technologies to revolutionise the forest sector.
Several UNITE researchers from three host organisations, namely the University of Eastern Finland, the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute and the Natural Resources Institute Finland, will be contributing to the conference.
More information:
https://uniteflagship.fi/2024/06/14/unite-at-iufro-world-congress-2024/
IUFRO (International Union of Forest Research Organizations) is a non-profit, non-governmental international network of forest scientists, promoting global cooperation in forest-related research and enhances the understanding of the ecological, economic and social aspects of forests and trees.
UNITE Flagship researches and develops the forest-human-machine interplay. The UNITE competence center has research groups from the University of Eastern Finland, the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute at the National Land Survey of Finland, the University of Tampere and the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), as well as an extensive network of co-creation partners. It is funded by the Reseach Council of Finland.
