Rationalization of coppice management in Mediterranean Europe: the sustainability effects of changing product strategy and technology level

Traditional coppice stands represent a sizable proportion of the Mediterranean forests and are generallygeared to the production of firewood, which is eventually fed to traditional stoves for residential heatgeneration. In recent years, an alternative use has developed whereby trees are chipped whole and chipsare fed to centralized heating plants. This latter system allows full mechanization of all supply chain stepsand is considered more suited to modern living habits; at the same time, its introduction has raisedconcerns about possible new impacts on sustainability. This study presents a sustainability impact analysis(SIA) of the two systems, conducted with the Tool for Sustainability Impact Assessment (ToSIA). The resultsindicate that the new system is generally preferable. All indicators point at the superiority of the newsystem over the traditional one, except for employment potential. Compared with traditional firewoodsystems, the innovative system requires fewer workers, but it pays better and offers much safer workplaces.While the energy efficiency of a district heating system is not much higher than that of modernfirewood stoves, the larger centralized plant can be fitted with better filters and emits much lessparticulate matter, which makes it especially suited to support development at a local level. Even ifmechanized cutting caused a 20% reduction of coppice yields - which has yet to be proven - the newsystem would still prove more sustainable than the traditional one.