The aim of this thesis is to create an understanding of the incentives for forest companies to invest in reducing carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, which is termed REDD. The Brazilian Amazonas was chosen as the base for the investment case. Brazil has the largest area of rainforest in the world, and also the biggest problem with deforestation. The Amazon region of Brazil comprises rainforest which is largely intact and unexploited. Accordingly, there is significant potential scope for prospective investments in a REDD-project, and so have a noteworthy impact in preventing deforestation.The research approach used the United Nation?s Clean Development Mechanism concept was used as a framework for ascertaining the investment costs in potential REDD-projects.

Dead wood is important for many species. The amount of coarse dead wood (diameter >10 cm) is much lower in managed forest than in unmanaged forests. Stumps constitute the largest proportion of the volume of coarse dead wood in managed forests. Since stump harvest for biofuel may increase, the amount of dead wood will decrease even more, which may threaten biodiversity. The first aim of this study was to compare the amounts of fine woody debris (FWD, .

Modern forestry requires a high degree of machine traffic for clear felling and scarification operations. The machines most frequently used are big and the traffic often results in tracks on the forest ground. There are many small streams running through a forest, in connection to logging operations, machines might cross these frequently. These crossings could result in the erosion of fine particulate inorganic matter, which ends up in the stream. The aim of this thesis was to give a general description of small forest streams of order-one in the county of Värmland and to determine the frequency of machine tracks in small streams.

This study has taken place in two nature reserves in the municipality of Uppvidinge in the Kronoberg region in southern Sweden. These have been chosen by the County Administrative Board to be part of a bigger landscape of fire affected nature, and prescribed fire has been implemented in these. The areas are called Ösjöbol and Berga fly and have been burned 2012 and 2013 respectively. Non-burned areas have been inventoried as well. Vascular plants and mineral soil have been inventoried with the Hult-Sernander-Du Rietz scale of five levels. Issues emanate from the County Administrative Board?s goals for prescribed fire: how sticks and herbs were affected, how much soil was uncovered, how the structure and fire favoured species were affected, and how deciduous trees and spruces (Picea abies) were affected. The study shows that the soil increased, as well as the fire favoured species.

This thesis reports on a case study of two different organisational forms in the Swedish forest industry; the geographic and the functional organisation. The work in the geographic organisation is carried out within districts under the supervision of an overall responible district manager, where as in the functional organisation the work has been divided into functions headed by function managers. Forest magement, logging and wood purchases are examples of such functions. The general idea of the functional organisation is having the functions working over a larger geographic unit, without subdividing district boundaries of the region. Also a third organisational form of current interest for the forest industry; the process orientated organisation, is analyzed in the case study. Here, a company outside the forest industry has been analyzed, since no forest company was considered to have made as much progress of changing organisation to process orientation. In the report I present the results from qualitative interviews, where I give the reader a picture of the motives behind each organisational form, what the form implies for some of the company?s interested parties and the organisations? views on future organisational development.

This bachelor?s degree thesis was conducted in mechanical engineering at Halmstad University during spring semester 2010 in close collaboration with the company Gremo AB, located in Ätran, Sweden. Gremo AB produces, developes and sales forest machines in both Sweden and on the international market.Gremo AB belongs to one of the market leaders in forest industry, especially with their forwarder. In order to become a market leader even with their harvester, the company decided to change the harvester to have a swivel and a leveling driver cabin.The aim with this bachelor?s degree thesis was to develop a design concept for the harvester driver cabin, which Gremo AB can apply on the new harvester.

The aim is to design a module for living which is flexible in a bigger context, which could condens the city and to answer the questions: How is it possible to make a livingmodule where the compact living theme works in an everyday situation? How is it possible to make one module which is able to function in several different situations? The process in solving problem has been characterized of trial and error: design a module and learn from the mistakes and take the knowledge to the next module. This is the way I have worked until I found a good solution. As a result I can show an efficient module which has several nice values of space and that is flexible and to some part adjust for a disabled person. It can on several ways condens the city.

The information flow is a very important process in an organization. It affects in a decisive manner the effectiveness of a task. It also has a major impact on the quality of the product or service for which the organization delivers to its customers. Lack of information may cause that important aspects are not given the required attention or even forgotten and can in turn lead to criticism from certification officials and lower customer satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to study how the information flow in Norrskog?s field organization is handled and how this affected the quality of the work performed and the feedback given to the contractors, The study is based on qualitative interviews with contractors, production inspectors and forest inspectors on all Norrskogs districts.

Since the end of the eighteenth century forest damage caused by the pathogen Gremmeniella abietina has been observed and documented. During the latest epidemic in Sweden more than 480 000 hectares forest land have been injured and this has lead to considerable economic losses. For the pathogen to succeed with infection, spore dispersal and colonization the right environmental conditions is required. The aim of this paper is to describe the diseased stands using site and stand characteristics and to evaluate the effect of these variables on the disease incidence. Further, the thinning performed during the time for spore dispersal and its relationship to injured stands is examined.

I Sverige är trakthyggesbruk med kalhuggning det dominerande skötselsystemetmen intresset för kalhyggesfritt skogsbruk har ökat de senaste åren. Alternativentill kalavverkning är omdiskuterade och kritiseras ofta för att inte vara lönsamma.Målet med detta examensarbete är att analysera ett långtidsförsök med olikaskogsskötselsystem och att diskutera eventuella produktionsskillnader. De fem skötselåtgärdersom undersöktes var 1) kalavverkning med plantering av gran och tall,2) naturlig föryngring under fröträd, 3) blädningsbruk, 4) dimensionsavverkningoch 5) orörd skog (referensyta). Fältförsöket ligger på Siljansfors försökspark iDalarna och anlades 1923. Alla försöksytor har en areal av 1 ha.

Forestry in Sweden is currently conducted in a manner aiming at equating the production objectives and the biodiversity. To ensure that biodiversity is maintained, patches that are considered to be valuable now or in the future is saved in final fellings. How the tree retention areas will grow into the future forest stands is yet unknown.The purpose of this study was to visualize how different scenarios of natural consideration taken at final felling will evolve in a long term perspective, for two rotation periods. Projections of the forest conditions were executed with the decision support system Heureka and its applications PlanStart and PlanWise. The information about the projected forests was then used for the visualizations which were created in the software Visual Nature Studio.

Nature conservation has for a long time been founded on the assumption that high ecological values depend on low human impact. In Sweden this has led to forests with these characteristics being strictly protected from human influences. However, it is also known that historical land-use can enhance ecological values in forests. Mountainous forests in Sweden, which have not been affected by modern forestry, have for a long time been considered as untouched by people. However, forest history research has in recent years shown that even these areas have been used by people for a long period of time.

Large areas of Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) were planted in the 1970s - and '80s. The purpose of the fast-growing species was to increase growth and with short rotation periods allow a rapidly increased harvest level. Today a large proportion of the young forests owned by Holmen Skog, Iggesund are covered by Lodgepole pine and an active forest management is required to spread the harvested volume over time which is desirable by a market perspective. The purpose of this essay is to investigate the possibility of spreading the harvested volume of Lodgepole pine over time.

To curb greenhouse gases and mitigate climate change is one of the biggest challenges human society face today. Carbon dioxide (CO2) has accumulated rapidly in the atmosphere as a consequence of burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. The aim of this study is to explore two methods to store carbon dioxide in geological formations and biological sinks. The aim is also to discuss the two mitigation options from a sustainable perspective and whether it can lead to a better environment and benefits for local and global societies. The research questions are: Which method to store carbon dioxide, geological or biological, is the most effective? Which method to store carbon dioxide, geological or biological, has the greatest potential to promote sustainable development for local communities?The method used is a comparative case study and presents four case studies that explore the potential for CO2 storage offshore in Norway and Brazil; and in tropical forests in Mexico and Brazil.

Decomposition of organic matter is a critical process in the ecosystem, which involves many essential biotic and physical parts. Decomposition is therefore an important process both above and below ground. The rate of decomposition is dependent of many environmental factors for example: pH, moisture and supply of oxygen. The decomposition can therefore be affected by large scaled environmental influences, such as acidification and climatic changes. The root litter in the forest is in different ways affected by acidification, liming and manuering.