During the past decade environmental challenges have been intensified and given increased attention. This implies that businesses in all sectors strategically need to manage these challenges. The service sector is often considered as a sector with a low environmental impact if the direct environmental aspects are assessed. Still, it has been argued that the environmental impact that the sector gives rise to can create severe indirect environmental impacts. The products and services that are produced by this sector have a relatively limited use of physical resources which may make the environmental impact challenging to visualize. Banks belong to the service sector and it is partly banks that make the development of societies possible.

Aspen (Populus tremula L.) and goat willow (Salix caprea L.) are two important tree species in the aspect of nature conservation. Due to the elimination of forest fires, a former negative attitude towards deciduous trees in forestry and a strong herbivore pressure, these tree species have been negatively affected during the last fifty years. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the occurrence of aspen and goat willow could be related to either human impact or to site properties, such as ground moisture and vegetation type. A side study included an inventory of a number of cyanobacterial tree lichens on aspen and goat willow in order to try to relate the occurrence of these lichens species to stand history and stand properties. The study was performed in Hamra State Forest in northern Dalarna. Nature reserves were compared with stands in managed areas.

Miljöcertifieringssystemen PEFC och FSC ställer krav på uppföljning och revision för att säkerställa att kraven och kvalitén uppnås. Studiens syfte var att belysa de skogliga maskinentreprenörerna och förvaltarnas/virkesinköparnas erfarenheter av arbete med uppföljning inom miljöcertifierat skogsbruk. Materialet insamlades genom telefonintervjuer och analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys, vilket ledde fram till resultatet. Uppföljningen och traktdirektivet har en viktig roll för att nå miljöcertifieringarnas krav. Dialog och delaktighet mellan de olika yrkesgrupperna var viktig, enligt respondenterna, för att miljöcertifieringen ska nå en hög kvalité och för att skapa engagemang och vilja att förbättra arbetet..

This report was written as a final thesis within the Department of forest economics at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences as a completion of the M.SC Forestry programme. The aim of this study was to create a model that, with respect to given stock levels, temperature, fuel usage and fuel price, would identify the optimal levels for purchase of bio fuels, optimal levels of incineration of bio fuels and the sum of the present values of all costs. The model would be applicable for a larger district heating plant. Data regarding temperature were received from SMHI. Information considering fuel prices was taken from the Swedish Forest Agency and the facts about fuel usage were collected from a large district heating plant, located in the southwest of Sweden. For the temperature, a sinus curve was adapted to describe the temperature over a year.

Som skoglig sektorsmyndighet är det Skogsstyrelsens uppgift att omsätta regeringens skogspolitiska mål i praktiken. De behöver därför ha kunskap om deras arbete faktiskt ger effekter i skogsbruket. Ett verktyg för att undersöka effekter är utvärderingar. Genom en utvärdering kan Skogsstyrelsen se vilka effekterna är samt få ett underlag till att förändra och utveckla framtida projekt. Denna studie syftade till att utvärdera effekter hos deltagare avseende kunskapsinhämtning och användningsgrad samt deltagarnas upplevelse av vattenkvällarna i projektet Skogsbruk och vatten inom Landsbygdsprogrammet hos Skogsstyrelsen i Östergötland.

Total protection is often the option chosen when protecting forests with high environmental values. An alternative to total protection is application of management regimes that do not interrupt continuity of tree cover. This study focuses mainly on continuous cover forestry (CCF) in forest stands already protected. All objects are situated in the county of Jämtland in northwest Sweden. The purpose of the study was to attain a greater knowledge about CCF practices.

Pulsatilla vernalis is one of several endangered plant species that benefit from wildfires and small scale disturbance events that repel competing vegetation and create open patches in the vegetation cover. Previous studies argue that Pulsatilla vernalis is decreasing in numbers due to vegetation changes associated with the decrease in wildfires, forest grazing and changes in forest management. In this study, 17 populations of P. vernalis were inventoried in order to examine if soil and/or vegetation structures affect the population structure of P. vernalis (i.e.

Efterfrågan på miljövänligt producerade produkter har ökat allt mer under senar e år. Det har bl.a. lett till att system för miljömärkning och miljöstyrning av skogsbruk har utvecklats. Det finns i dag tre system som kan vara aktuella för skogsbruk i Sverige : ? Certifiering enligt Forest Stewardship Council, FSC.

This study was performed in an afforestation experiment established 1982 on an abandoned peat harvesting area, Flakmossen, in the province of Värmland, SW Sweden. The experimen-tal design include planting with Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), in combination with various drainage intensities (20, 30, and 40 m between ditches), and fertilizer doses 0, 100, and 200 g PK per seedling applied at the date of planting. The aim of this study was to achieve more knowledge about the conditions on afforestation of peat harvesting areas, especially regarding drainage intensity and fertilization requirements, by means of determining the stand growth and yield in the Flakmossen trial. The forest growth did not differ significantly between the drainage intensities tested when the same amount of phosphor and potassium fertilizer was added. Thus, shorter distances between ditches than 40 m can not be recommended. When no fertilization was carried out seedling survival was very low, and the growth of sur-vived seedlings was poor. The largest diameter and height growth were observed in the areas where the highest dose of phosphorus and potassium (200g/seedling) was given.

The requirements for operative planning activities are increasing. The forest industry wants to gain better control over wood flow. A felling that is more market adjusted is desirable. However, this causes problems in the operative planning process because of the data collection methods used today. Data about timber assortments and data about the distribution of the tree diameter, etc., are often lacking. Airborne laser scanning is used to a greater extent than before for estimation of forest variables and should perhaps be used to the same extent in operative planning activities as well.

In 1994 a new Forestry Act was accepted in Sweden. One of the aims of the law is to raise consideration forpreservation of biodiversity. Since the new law got accepted and some time has passed, there now lie someinterest in examining whether the law has been effective towards its purpose. Methods suitable for analysishave been examined during this study. The content of this pilot study is based around five parameters whichcan be used to validate the effects of the new law.

This thesis is a product of research about how implementation issues occur due to the relationbetween bureaucrats and politicians. Our study treats the democratic dilemma that occurs whenschools are to implement environmental certifications. Through a comparative study we comparetwo schools in Norra Hisingen, a district in Gothenburg municipal where one of the schools iscertificated and one is not. By using theories from top down and bottom up approaches toimplementation we develop key factors that will lead us to answer our research questions.Through text analysis of policy documents and through interviews with bureaucrats we analyzewhat may be the causes for only one of the two schools to be certificated though Gothenburgmunicipal wish all schools to be. Through our analytical tool we can establish that the policydocuments are well formed according to our top down-theory and that these documents does nothave a major impact on the fact that one school is certificated and one is not.

The landscape can be something that you rest your eyes on, something that goes quickly past outside the windscreen or the place for the daily work. To me, landscape is everything around us ? the city, the field and the forest. But what is landscape for you? What does the idea of the landscape stand for? How does our view of the landscape become influenced of the place where we grow up? And the differences between peoples different views of the landscape ? what does they depend on? My point of the view for this paper is that the landscape ideals mostly depend on the landscape where you grow up and that it depends less on the differences between the individuals. As a landscape architect the idea of the landscape is the essential. The more we learn, the more we realize how complex it is, but deep down we always have our own experiences and memories and that shapes our personalities.

Svartedalens nature reserve a social richness worth develop. The nature reserve of Svartedalen is an area of high biological and social values. The reserve is located close to several densely populated areas. The reserve has been classified as a national area of interest for nature conservation and outdoor life, and as a Natura 2000 area according to both the bird- and habitat directions. The reserve is the largest landarea in Västra Götaland, 3 410 hectares, where a resolution has been made about all these forms of protection. The foundation Skogssällskapet owns 1 956 hectares of the reserve, at 1 384 hectares of the property they pursue FSC-certified silver culture, according to current management plan.

Saproxylic lichens in managed forests have less substrate available than in unmanaged forests due to the shortage of dead wood. However, a suitable substrate for these lichens could be dead branches on living trees. To this date, there has not been any systematically collected data about theabundance of dead branches on living trees and the lichens growing on these branches in managed forests. The aim of this study was to see where dead branches were located on living trees of Pinus sylvestris and Picea abies, how large the surface area of these branches was and what lichens grewof wood on these branches. The study was made in Finspång, Sweden, where 11 forest stands of P.sylvestris and P.