Abstract
Woody biomass is a key raw material of the circular bioeconomy, and its use can contribute considerably to achieving sustainability goals and carbon neutrality. The use of timber can foster climate change mitigation through long-term carbon storage and through the substitution of fossil products and fossil fuels. Sustainable forest management is meant to balance the contradictory goals of economic efficiency and nature conservation with careful planning and foresight. Consequently, it is important to assess the amount of timber that can be harvested without compromising sustainability. In our study, we examined the amount of wood stock accumulated in overmature stands in Hungary. Overmature stands are defined as those stands where the actual age of the stand is over its cutting age prescribed by the Forest Authority. 11.5 % of the standing volume in Hungary is overmature, and the wood stock of overmature stands has increased by more than 250 % in the last 40 y. Our results point out that a significant surplus of timber ripe for cutting is stored in overmature stands. The importance of this unused wood stock reserve is enormous, as it is a basis for meeting the growing timber demand in a sustainable way. In our study, we present the most important characteristics of the overmature black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), which stands as a representative example. The authors conclude that the mobilization of the unused wood stock reserve and the utilization of the additional harvest possibility will be among the most important challenges of the Hungarian forest industry in the upcoming decades. The harvesting potential could be unlocked by professional integration and technical assistance provided to forest managers and wood industry enterprises based on GIS applications. Geographically explicit information on the amount and value of wood stocks available for harvest could be a basis for creating a new type of entrepreneurial culture and new ways of providing forest-related services.
