RATING-SRCReducing Environmental Impacts of Short-

Rotation Coppice (SRC) Through Evidence-Based Integrated Decision Support Tools

Dimitriou I.a*, Bolte A.b, Aronsson P.a, Baum C.c, Baum S.b, Berndes G.d, Busch G.b, Köhn J.e,

Lamersdorf N.b, Leinweber P.c, Weih M.a, Wirsenius S.d

* Corresponding author, e-mail: Ioannis.Dimitriou@vpe.slu.se

• Rating-SRC is an ERA-NET Bioenergy project dealing with the impact of Short-Rotation Coppice (SRC) of willow and poplar on the environment

• Partners from Sweden and Germany

• Duration: Oct. 2008 – Sep. 2011

The project

Project partnersSwedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) (Project coordinator) (a)Contact: Dr. Ioannis DimitriouEmail: ioannis.dimitriou@vpe.slu.se

Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries (vTI)In co-op. with: Göttingen Soil Initiative (GBI e.V.); University of Göttingen, Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology, Dep. of Soil Science of Temperate and Boreal Ecosystems (PGZ); Bureau for Applied Landscape Ecology and Scenario Analysis, Göttingen (BALSA) (b) Contact: Prof. Dr. Andreas BolteEmail: andreas.bolte@vti.bund.de

University of Rostock (c)Contact: Prof. Dr. Peter LeinweberEmail: peter.leinweber@uni-rostock.de

Chalmers University of Technology (d)Contact: Dr. Göran BerndesEmail: goran.berndes@chalmers.se

Beckmann Institute for Bio-production technology lines e.V. (BIOP Institut) (e)Contact: Dr. Jörg KöhnEmail: jk@dr-joerg-koehn.de

The German Ministry of Agriculture (BMELV) through its Agency for Renewable Resources (Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V. – FNR) is funding Rating-SRC partners from Germany, and the Swedish Energy Agency (Energimyndigheten) is financing the Swedish partners of the project.

The idea behind

• As a perennial wood crop SRC differs from most arable crops in physical traits and management practices

• Positive environmental benefits due to SRC have been reported but the effects on the environment depend on existing or previous land-use, scale of planting and management practices applied • Nevertheless, SRC is in some cases faced with reservation concerning its environmental impact since it is a new crop and gaps in knowledge exist

• SRC of willow and poplar is an agricultural crop for production of biomass for heat and/or electricity

• A rapid increase of agricultural land cultivated with SRC has been projected

• This shift from “conventional” arable crops to SRC will have implications on a range of environmental issues

The objectives• a full-scale evaluation of SRC impact in the micro- and macro-scale on soil, water, biodiversity and landscape

• to propose ways to mitigate negative and increase positive impacts

• to accommodate decision-makers of different levels with support tools to assess the sustainability of SRC as agricultural crop

For more information visit the

Rating-SRC website:

http://ratingsrc.slu.se

Rating-SRC will:• consider factors strengthening SRC as a sustainable energy generation system, as the recycling of byproducts in SRC fields

• develop recommendations to increase the positive and mitigate the negative impacts of SRC on the environment

• develop SRC “suitability” maps for certain areas based on the project findings

SRC as agricultural crop