Highlights of Task Activities in 2008
· 2008 was the 2nd year of the present triennium (2007-2009) for Task 31.
· A successful Task planning meeting was held in Toronto, Canada in February.
· An international scientific/technical workshop and field study tour was organized by the Biomass Energy Centre of the Forestry Commission in the UK in September on the theme of ‘Woodlot supply chain – sharing experience', with 130 participants and 67 presentations. This was a joint workshop with IEA Bioenergy Tasks 38 and 40.
· Presentations given at the UK workshop are available on-line.
· The workshop included a well-attended and lively woodfuel discussion forum at the biennial UK Association of Professional Foresters exhibition.
· Proceedings of the workshop held jointly with IEA Bioenergy Tasks 29 and 39 in Vancouver, Canada in 2006 were in press for publication as a special issue of Biomass and Bioenergy.
· Most of the key chapters (and a series of supporting case studies in developing countries) have been drafted for a joint publication in collaboration with FAO on ‘Certification of forest fuel production systems: a solution for sustainable use of biomass from forest residues for energy'.
· Four case studies are now available on-line to Task participants providing specific local illustrations of the general principles involved in sustainable forest biomass production for energy.
· Six in a series of country reports from participating countries have been prepared and are available on-line.
· A technology synthesis report was prepared on ‘Principles of nutrient management for sustainable forest management production' offering a series of guidelines for sustainably managing forest nutrition in a range of bioenergy production schemes.
· In response to an EU Consultation on a sustainability scheme for energy uses of biomass, a short paper was submitted addressing questions related to sustainable forest management.
· A manuscript on ‘Forest fuel harvesting: a review of environmental risks, criteria and indicators and certification standards for environmental sustainability’ was contributed to a white paper on ‘Sustainable Wood Bioenergy in the United States: Status, Trends and Regional Outlook’ compiled by the Pinchot Institute in conjunction with a national policy forum.
Highlights of Task Activities in 2007
· 2007 was the 1 st year of a new triennium for Task 31, with renewed mandate and increased participation.
· Finland rejoined the Task as a full participant, and the Netherlands, after participating as an observer for half the year, also became a full participant again.
· A successful Task planning meeting was held in Sweden in March.
· An international scientific/technical workshop and field study tour was organized by the Finnish Forest Research Institute in Finland for the Task in August on the theme of ‘Sustainable forestry systems for bioenergy: integration, innovation and information', with 50 participants and 24 presentations.
· A CD of presentations from the Finnish workshop was produced and distributed.
· The workshop included a half-day ‘Meet the Industry' event arranged by the Wood Energy Network (Wenet).
· Proceedings of the workshop held jointly with IEA Bioenergy Task 30 in Western Australia in 2005 were published as a special issue of Biomass and Bioenergy.
· Two key chapters were drafted for a publication intended to be produced in collaboration with FAO on ‘Certification of forest fuel production systems: a solution for sustainable use of biomass from forest residues for energy'.
· Two case studies were in preparation to provide specific local illustrations of the general principles involved in sustainable forest biomass production for energy:
