UNITE Flagship researchers are strongly present at the IUFRO World Congress with the theme Forests & Society Towards 2050. In many sessions, we will present the latest advances in innovative technologies, continuous cover forestry, forest systems and gamified approaches to support more sustainable and economically efficient forest management.
Digital twins and driver assistance systems
UNITE research provides innovations for more sustainable logging operations. Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADASs) can be utilized in the field of forestry to enhance cutting productivity and harvesting quality. In IUFRO, Doctoral Researcher Johannes Pohjala (UEF) will present his results on investigating the effects of the harvester operator guiding in thinning work. For example, the effect of the prior tree marking on cutting productivity is positive, increasing cutting productivity by 2.7–2.8%.
A detailed country-level Digital Twin of forests could support more economically efficient wood procurement, enable better preserving biodiversity and provide basis for various services building on forest information. FGI’s Juha Hyyppä will present the work on the individual tree level digital twin. It is demonstrated in Metsäkanta forest database. The database is the first information system in the world to apply individual tree based methods for mapping large forest areas with billions of trees.
Book launch about Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF)
To reconcile various and sometimes conflicting goals for ecosystem services, a wide range of forest management approaches and methods are needed. CCF is likely to gain a wider application throughout Fennoscandia in upcoming years.
– Science-based knowledge is needed on the effects of CCF management, to assure a better, more balanced, and targeted provision of goods and services from Nordic forests, says one of the editors, Johanna Routa from the Natural Resource Institute Finland (Luke).
With the support of UNITE Flagship, the book ”Continuous Cover Forestry in Boreal Nordic Countries. Managing Forest Ecosystems.” soon published by Springer will be launched during the Congress.
Research on forest system interactions and relationships
UNITE researchers will also present their work relating to many other current topics such as the interactions between game bird habitats and silviculture, the relationship between logging rates and carbon sinks, and drone-based valuation of forest land.
Our researchers have also developed gamified forest advisory systems to support forest owners’ learning self-efficacy as well as means to support their strong sustainability approaches towards forest use.
The 26th International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) in Stockholm gathers over 4000 forest researchers and stakeholders all over the world under the theme, Forests & Society Towards 2050. With over 200 scientific sessions with the leading experts it presents the latest research, innovations and technologies to revolutionise the forest sector.
Several UNITE researchers from three host organizations University of Eastern Finland, Finnish Geospatial Research Institute and Natural Resources Institute Finland are contributing the conference. Join our sessions at the Congress or stay tuned on our LinkedIn and X.
IUFRO (International Union of Forest Research Organizations) is a non-profit, non-governmental international network of forest scientists, promoting global cooperation in forest-related research and enhances the understanding of the ecological, economic and social aspects of forests and trees.
UNITE Flagship researches and develops the forest-human-machine interplay. The UNITE competence center has research groups from the University of Eastern Finland, the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute at the National Land Survey of Finland, the University of Tampere and the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), as well as an extensive network of co-creation partners. It is funded by the Research Council of Finland.