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Face-to-face encounters and development – UNITE port of call at Punkaharju in September

The UNITE flagship reached its half-way point and this milestone was celebrated in Punkaharju together with stakeholders. Few places offer a better setting for a forest meeting than Punkaharju with its Finnish Forest Museum Lusto and research forests of Natural Institute Finland (Luke).

Engaging Discussions at the UNITE Impact Seminar

The Finnish Forest Museum Lusto served as a base for the midway port, where the UNITE participants and stakeholder representatives were able to hear about current UNITE themes and results in an impact seminar. The programme offered something for everyone. First, Professor Teppo Hujala (UEF) led the discussion on forest information management and how the ongoing sustainability transition in forest use is changing it. Research Professor Annika Kangas (Luke) presented different ways of producing sustainability calculations for wood production and also introduced the audience to the pitfalls and opportunities of different calculations. Research Professor Eija Honkavaara (FGI) talked about autonomous drones and what revolutionary things they and artificial intelligence can already do in forestry – and what more the future can bring.

Associate Professor Samuli Junttila (UEF) also continued the AI theme in his presentation on forest risk management – what new knowledge can AI bring? University researcher Timo Nummenmaa (TAU) presented partnerships between forestry and game companies and led the audience to consider how data collection could be crowdsourced through gamification.

Stakeholder representatives had the opportunity to dive deeper into the topics of most interest to them in three thematic workshops. The workshops covered forest risk management, sustainability calculations for timber production and the role of sustainable forest management in forest information management. The afternoon culminated in a tour in the Finnish Forest Museum Lusto, where a new core exhibition, Land of Forest Relations, opened last year.

Exploring the Punkaharju Research Forest

The next day, the sun was shining full blast as the uniteans and stakeholders headed to the Punkaharju Research Forest managed by the Natural Resources Institute Finland. The research forest is celebrating its centenary this year, and the oldest forestry experiments in the area date back to the 1840s and 1870s. In the morning session, the participants learned about spruce germination under the guidance of Luke Mikko Tikkinen, visited a decaying tree site and discussed the forest carbon cycle, and visited an experimental forest of different age structures under the guidance of Luke Jari Hynynen and Petteri Vanninen. The Punkaharju Research Forest with its easy walking routes and educational panels is a great place to visit, but you can also explore it virtually in the Forest Bioeconomy Showcase!

In the afternoon, the forest programme continued with a demonstration of game-based data collection (Timo Nummenmaa, TAU) and presentations on topical subjects: extended rotation time, diversification of tree species, mixed forests’ silviculture and alternatives for tending of seedling stands (Jari Hynynen, Jari Miina & Lauri Männistö, Luke).

Stakeholder feedback helps to go forward

Stakeholders’ ideas, feelings and wishes were closely listened to throughout the two days and will help UNITE to further develop its activities to better meet their wishes and needs. But as we move forward and look to the future, it is also valuable to look back over the past four years and listen to the thank yous as well. Juho Rantala, Metsä Group’s Development Director, put it into words:

“At Metsä Group, cooperation with UNITE is seen as a big contribution to several things that are important to us. It is really important to have research projects that cover a broad enough scope and look far enough ahead.”