Sha­ring forest exper­ti­se with Cana­da

Cana­dian fore­stry and bio­ener­gy expert Jamie Step­hen visi­ted Joen­suu in mid-Februa­ry to shoot mate­rial for a You­Tu­be video series that pre­sents dif­fe­rent forms of sus­tai­nable bio­eco­no­my in Euro­pe. In Joen­suu, the focus was especial­ly on sus­tai­nable fore­stry and the district hea­ting sys­tem in the area.

– Joen­suu’s cli­ma­te is coo­ler than, for example, Ottawa or Edmon­ton, whe­re hea­ting is main­ly done with natu­ral gas. The hea­ting sys­tem in Joen­suu is based on the use of wood-based mate­rials and sup­ports sus­tai­nable fore­stry, which we can learn from in Cana­da, says Step­hen.

I knew that Joen­suu is the forest capi­tal of Euro­pe and one of the world’s lea­ding cities in sus­tai­nable fore­stry and the uti­liza­tion of wood-based mate­rials.

In addi­tion to Joen­suu, the video series was fil­med in Swe­den, France and Great Bri­tain. Joen­suu was cho­sen as a fil­ming loca­tion for seve­ral rea­sons.

– I knew that Joen­suu is the forest capi­tal of Euro­pe and one of the world’s lea­ding cities in sus­tai­nable fore­stry and the uti­liza­tion of wood-based mate­rials. In addi­tion, the­re is an exten­si­ve and func­tio­nal district hea­ting sys­tem here and rela­ted know-how, which can ins­pi­re others to succeed, Step­hen desc­ri­bes.

Finns have a unique rela­tions­hip with forests

Step­hen has wor­ked in bio­ener­gy and fore­stry for more than 20 years, and acted as a pro­mo­ter of Fin­nish ener­gy solu­tions in his home count­ry.

– With my research, I have tried to con­vince Cana­dian cities that the use of sus­tai­nable bio­ener­gy is a viable way to reduce car­bon dioxi­de emis­sions and a way to gui­de urban hea­ting and fore­stry in a more res­pon­sible direc­tion.

Accor­ding to Step­hen, in Cana­da it is often thought that heat can be pro­duced with eit­her elect­rici­ty or natu­ral gas.

– The pur­po­se of the video shot in Joen­suu is to show that hea­ting solu­tions based on bio­ener­gy can also pro­ve to work in con­di­tions simi­lar to Cana­da.

In Cana­da it is often thought that heat can be pro­duced with eit­her elect­rici­ty or natu­ral gas.

– Cana­da is a cold count­ry, just like Fin­land. We also have a lot of forest area and the forest industry is a sig­ni­ficant industry, he desc­ri­bes the simi­la­ri­ties between the count­ries.

Howe­ver, Cana­dians and Finns have a dif­fe­rent rela­tions­hip with forests. Step­hen says that he has noticed that many fami­lies in Fin­land have their own forest, which has a long tra­di­tion of caring for it.

– The­re is a rela­tions­hip with the land and the forest that transcends gene­ra­tions, even if you live in a city.

– Cana­da, on the other hand, is a real­ly urba­nized count­ry, the majo­ri­ty of who­se citizens live a very urban life.

– Alt­hough Cana­da’s forest area is gigan­tic, it can be dif­ficult for indi­vi­duals to form a rela­tions­hip with the forest, Step­hen sta­tes.

Alt­hough Cana­da’s forest area is gigan­tic, it can be dif­ficult for indi­vi­duals to form a rela­tions­hip with the forest.

Step­hen cites the struc­tu­re of forest owners­hip as one of the rea­sons for this. In Cana­da, 94 percent of forests are publicly owned.

– Get­ting into the forest can be dif­ficult, and people enter natu­re most­ly in natio­nal parks, which is why the forest is very far from people’s eve­ry­day life.

Forests are not being thin­ned in Cana­da

Accor­ding to Step­hen, the­re are also huge dif­fe­rences between Fin­land and Cana­da in the use of forests.

– Fin­land has success­ful­ly crea­ted a sys­tem, whe­re forests in dif­fe­rent sta­ges of growth and dif­fe­rent wood-based mate­rials have their own place.

– For example, heat pro­duc­tion is con­nec­ted to the Fin­nish fore­stry sys­tem, but in Cana­da the­se are sepa­ra­te areas. One sig­ni­ficant dif­fe­rence is rela­ted to thin­ning fel­ling, which is acti­ve­ly done in Fin­nish eco­no­mic forests.

Through thin­ning, trees in good con­di­tion get more room to grow and, for example, sick or dama­ged trees are remo­ved and uti­lized, for example, in ener­gy pro­duc­tion.

– In Cana­da, thin­ning is hard­ly done, and no financial resources are put into the mana­ge­ment of publicly owned forests at dif­fe­rent sta­ges of forest growth, Step­hen says.

Accor­ding to him, howe­ver, by thin­ning forests, it would be pos­sible to sig­ni­ficant­ly reduce, for example, the risk of forest fires.

– Most of Cana­da’s forests are natu­ral and the­re­fo­re suscep­tible to forest fires, which, for example, destro­yed lar­ge forest areas in 2023. Forest fires crea­te car­bon dioxi­de emis­sions and huge amounts of car­bon sinks are lost in a short time, Step­hen explains.

Forests will chan­ge anyway with cli­ma­te chan­ge. This is a real­ly big dif­fe­rence com­pa­red to other ener­gy sources.

– Thanks to bio­ener­gy in Fin­land, it has been pos­sible to crea­te a pro­fi­table mar­ket for wood mate­rial obtai­ned from thin­nings.

Thanks to this, the forests remain fresh and are not destro­yed so easi­ly as a result of fires. The­re is no such acti­ve forest mana­ge­ment model in Cana­da.

Step­hen con­si­ders the forest to be an excep­tio­nal source of ener­gy because it is a living orga­nism that chan­ges over the years.

–We should work toget­her with the forest and natu­re and learn to unders­tand what works and what doesn’t. Forests will chan­ge anyway with cli­ma­te chan­ge. This is a real­ly big dif­fe­rence com­pa­red to other ener­gy sources, he sta­tes.

Fore­stry is renewed through coo­pe­ra­tion

Accor­ding to Step­hen, the oppor­tu­ni­ties for Fin­nish tech­no­lo­gies and prac­tical imple­men­ta­tion know-how in the Cana­dian export mar­ket are enor­mous.

– For example, the­re are very few com­pa­nies and engi­neers in Cana­da that imple­ment hea­ting sys­tems. In Fin­land, on the other hand, the­re are sig­ni­ficant tech­no­lo­gies and expert teams in the field, with whom we are alrea­dy wor­king in lar­ge-sca­le col­la­bo­ra­ti­ve pro­jects, he says.

Coo­pe­ra­tion between munici­pa­li­ties and cities could be one way to sha­re know-how and get Fin­nish solu­tions to the Cana­dian mar­ket.

Step­hen especial­ly emp­ha­sizes the impor­tance of com­mu­nica­tion in sha­ring the succes­ses of dif­fe­rent areas.

–Reducing emis­sions and inc­rea­sing car­bon sinks is our com­mon goal and duty, but wor­king solu­tions are still not suf­ficient­ly com­mu­nica­ted.

–It is not effuicient sel­ling a single pro­duct to a Cana­dian, but rat­her a comple­te solu­tion. Networks, acti­ve forest mana­ge­ment and tech­no­lo­gies are strengths that should be com­mu­nica­ted as a who­le, says Step­hen.