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In most Sub-Saharan African countries, such as Togo, forest ecosystems provide ecosystem services to the local population. These ecosystem services are of vital importance to the local populations, who depend on the benefits derived from their use to meet their socio-economic needs. The permanent dependence of these populations on ecosystem services is a major factor accelerating the degradation of natural resources, which are already under pressure from climatic factors. The present study assesses the provisioning of ecosystem services provided by the relics forest in the southeast region of the Mono Biosphere Reserve in Togo. Individual interviews and group discussions were carried out with 420 households in fourteen villages around the reserve to identify the current uses of woody species. The results show that 100% of the respondents cited plant species, such as Mitragyna inermis, Lonchocarpus sericeus, and Diospyros mespiliformis, as used for wood. Species, such as Mimusops andogensis and Triplohiton scleroxylon, were cited as exclusively used for wood by 94% and 86%, respectively. Other species, such as Vitex doniana and Dialium guineense, in addition to their use for wood (93% and 70%), were cited, respectively, by 97% and 98% of respondents as used for fruit, and by 82% and 90% for their leaves. The heavy daily use of these species compromises their sustainability. An analysis of Sorensen’s similarity index, according to gender, age, ethnic group, and sector of activity, revealed a variation in this index ranging from 0.6 to 1, reflecting households’ knowledge of the use of these seven species. The local populations are already feeling the effects of the low availability of these commonly used species. According to them, the depletion of these resources is caused mainly by agricultural clearing, illegal logging, and bushfires.

In most Sub-Saharan African countries, such as Togo, forest ecosystems provide ecosystem services to the local population. These ecosystem services are of vital importance to the local populations, who depend on the benefits derived from their use to meet their socio-economic needs. The permanent dependence of these populations on ecosystem services is a major factor accelerating the degradation of natural resources, which are already under pressure from climatic factors. The present study assesses the provisioning of ecosystem services provided by the relics forest in the southeast region of the Mono Biosphere Reserve in Togo. Individual interviews and group discussions were carried out with 420 households in fourteen villages around the reserve to identify the current uses of woody species. The results show that 100% of the respondents cited plant species, such as Mitragyna inermis, Lonchocarpus sericeus, and Diospyros mespiliformis, as used for wood. Species, such as Mimusops andogensis and Triplohiton scleroxylon, were cited as exclusively used for wood by 94% and 86%, respectively. Other species, such as Vitex doniana and Dialium guineense, in addition to their use for wood (93% and 70%), were cited, respectively, by 97% and 98% of respondents as used for fruit, and by 82% and 90% for their leaves. The heavy daily use of these species compromises their sustainability. An analysis of Sorensen's similarity index, according to gender, age, ethnic group, and sector of activity, revealed a variation in this index ranging from 0.6 to 1, reflecting households' knowledge of the use of these seven species. The local populations are already feeling the effects of the low availability of these commonly used species. According to them, the depletion of these resources is caused mainly by agricultural clearing, illegal logging, and bushfires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Knowledge of floristic diversity's classical measures is crucial to support conservation strategies of plant resources in degraded forests. The present study aims firstly to assess the parameters of specific and structural diversity of the woody flora of the forest patches of Lubero and secondly, to determine its state of conservation in order to suggest appropriate measures for its sustainable management. A stratified cluster sampling has been used for the forest inventories. To this end, 297 plots of 50 m2 each have been marked out in ten forest patches. Specific diversity indices have been calculated and dendrometric parameters have been determined. Renyi entropy has been calculated to compare the alpha diversity of woody species between the different forest patches. The Kruskal-Wallis rank test and analysis of variance have been used to compare structural diversity parameters between woody stands. A total of 104 woody species (86 genera and 45 families) have been identified. The species richness of the forest patches nowadays varies between 11 and 78. The Shannon diversity index is highly variable (1.98 to 4.03 bits) and the Pielou equitability is fairly high (0.83 to 0.94). Highly significant differences in density (degree of freedom ddl=9, chi-square = 93.1316, P

Summary: The Brazilian Amazon has the world's largest concentration of indigenous American peoples, but many environmental threats have affected the preservation of this enormous human ethnocultural heritage. This study identified the species and studied the different uses of wood by two indigenous ethnic groups in Southeastern Pará, Brazil, namely the "Gavião" and "Suruí". Ten taxa were identified, distributed in eight botanical families, with five being identified to genus and five to species levels. The wood of Bertholletia excelsa , an endangered forest species in Brazil, is important in the material culture of the Suruí indigenous people. The indigenous ethnic groups studied preferentially use medium density wood for building and high-density wood for hunting and warfare artefacts. The technological properties of wood justify its use by the indigenous peoples studied. We caution that the increasing environmental threats in Indigenous Lands within the Brazilian Amazon harm the preservation of the ethnocultural heritage of indigenous peoples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest ecosystems strongly contribute to the mitigation of climate change impacts through the carbon stored in forests and through harvested wood products, such as sawed wood and furniture, which are obtained from many types of timber assortments. Timber assortments are defined as log sections of specific dimensions (log length and maximum/minimum end diameters), gathered from felled trunks, that have both specific commercial timber utilisation and economic value. However, it is challenging to discriminate and assess timber assortment types, especially within a forest stand before the forest has been harvested. Accurate estimations of timber assortments are a fundamental prerequisite in supporting forest holdings and assisting practitioners in the optimisation of harvesting activities and promoting forest wood chains, in addition to forest policy and planning. Based on the georeferenced points cloud tool, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) is a powerful technology for rapidly and accurately depicting forest structure, even if the use of LiDAR for timber assortments estimation is lacking and poorly explored. This systematic literature review aimed to highlight the state-of-the-art applications of the LiDAR systems (spaceborne; airborne, including unmanned aerial UASs; and terrestrial) to quantify and classify different timber assortment types. A total of 304 peer-reviewed papers were examined. The results highlight a constant increment of published articles using LiDAR systems for forest-related aspects in the period between 2000 and 2021. The most recurring investigation topics in LiDAR studies were forest inventory and forest productivity. No studies were found that used spaceborne LiDAR systems for timber assortment assessments, as these were conditioned by the time and sample size (sample size = ~12 m/~25 m of laser footprint and 0.7 m/60 m of space along the track for ICESat-2, GEDI and time = since 2018). Terrestrial LiDAR systems demonstrated a higher performance in successfully characterising the trees belonging to an understory layer. Combining airborne/UAS systems with terrestrial LiDAR systems is a promising approach to obtain detailed data concerning the timber assortments of large forest covers. Overall, our results reveal that the interest of scientists in using machine and deep learning algorithms for LiDAR processes is steadily increasing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest ecosystems strongly contribute to the mitigation of climate change impacts through the carbon stored in forests and through harvested wood products, such as sawed wood and furniture, which are obtained from many types of timber assortments. Timber assortments are defined as log sections of specific dimensions (log length and maximum/minimum end diameters), gathered from felled trunks, that have both specific commercial timber utilisation and economic value. However, it is challenging to discriminate and assess timber assortment types, especially within a forest stand before the forest has been harvested. Accurate estimations of timber assortments are a fundamental prerequisite in supporting forest holdings and assisting practitioners in the optimisation of harvesting activities and promoting forest wood chains, in addition to forest policy and planning. Based on the georeferenced points cloud tool, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) is a powerful technology for rapidly and accurately depicting forest structure, even if the use of LiDAR for timber assortments estimation is lacking and poorly explored. This systematic literature review aimed to highlight the state-of-the-art applications of the LiDAR systems (spaceborne; airborne, including unmanned aerial UASs; and terrestrial) to quantify and classify different timber assortment types. A total of 304 peer-reviewed papers were examined. The results highlight a constant increment of published articles using LiDAR systems for forest-related aspects in the period between 2000 and 2021. The most recurring investigation topics in LiDAR studies were forest inventory and forest productivity. No studies were found that used spaceborne LiDAR systems for timber assortment assessments, as these were conditioned by the time and sample size (sample size = ~12 m/~25 m of laser footprint and 0.7 m/60 m of space along the track for ICESat-2, GEDI and time = since 2018). Terrestrial LiDAR systems demonstrated a higher performance in successfully characterising the trees belonging to an understory layer. Combining airborne/UAS systems with terrestrial LiDAR systems is a promising approach to obtain detailed data concerning the timber assortments of large forest covers. Overall, our results reveal that the interest of scientists in using machine and deep learning algorithms for LiDAR processes is steadily increasing.

Wood is an inexhaustible resource with many advantages, such as high abundance, renewability, biodegradability, and carbon balance. Anisotropic wood can serve as a substrate to facilitate the deposition and growth of micro/nano functional units for the development of anisotropic energy storage and conversion materials. Moreover, wood can serve as a raw material for preparing novel products with large surface areas and high reaction activities, such as 1 D nanofibrils, 2 D nanofilms, and 3 D gels, through disassembly and reassembly. These reassembled materials can also act as substrates that can be combined with micro/nano functional units for the development of green novel energy storage and conversion materials. In this paper, the recent research on wood-based energy storage and conversion materials, including supercapacitors, lithium-ion batteries, water splitting, and solar cells, is summarized, and the direction of future development is proposed by providing new ideas for the applications of this high-value resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wood industries produce large volumes of residues which must be utilized, marketed or properly disposed of. Heaps of wood residues are common features in wood industries throughout the year. In Nigeria, this residue is generally regarded as waste and this has led to open burning practices, dumping in water bodies or dumping in an open area which constitutes environmental pollution. Sawmills in Nigeria generated over 1,000,000 m3 of wood waste in 2010 while about 5000 m3 of waste was generated in plywood mills. Nigeria generates about 1.8 million tons of sawdust annually and 5.2 million tons of wood wastes. The impact of improper disposal of waste wood on the environment affects both the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Also burning of waste wood releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere causing various health issues. Reuse/recycling of these wood residues in Nigeria will reduce the pressure on our ever decreasing forests, reduce environmental pollution, create wealth and employment. The literature available on this subject was reviewed and this article, therefore, focuses on the various methods of wood waste disposal and its utilization in Nigerian wood industries, the effects of wood waste on the environment as well as on human health and the benefits of proper wood waste management practices.

Material flow analysis was used to reveal and quantify relations between the resources and the primary uses of wood. The paper deal with the analysis of raw wood flows in Slovakia in two approaches to wood flow modelling were utilised - wood balance and wood resource balance. Wood balance was presented to demonstrate a general view of the resources and primary uses of roundwood without analysing internal flows. The wood resource balance, as a more detailed analysis, takes into account the uses of wood as a material and also the by-products and waste generated by the production that could be used as inputs for further uses in wood processing or energy sectors. The latter balance was compiled using available official statistics supplemented by a questionnaire to estimate missing data for waste streams with a total consumption of 10.78 mil. m3 roundwood.

This article explains why the Chosŏn government and the military in particular expanded state control over forests in the seventeenth century and analyzes the implications of forest administration in a preindustrial polity. From 1592 to 1598, the Chosŏn dynasty suffered invasions from Japan that displaced much of the Korean population and devastated the economy and environment. The crucial role of the navy during the war, along with a dire postwar situation, heightened government anxieties about deforestation and timber scarcity. Thus, in the seventeenth century, the Chosŏn government expanded administration over forests, particularly pine forests, across the coasts and islands of southwestern Korea. The key vehicle for the expansion was the military. Due to wartime and postwar exigencies, the military became the late Chosŏn state's primary organ for management of wood resources for state purposes. Furthermore, the growth of pine-centric state forests and shifts in military priorities would significantly reshape Korean ecologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crisis in supplying regions and the country related to available forest resources and low profitability of forest sector, as a whole, is an indicator of failure of the existing model of forest management and forest use organization in Russia at the present time. Many Russian regions, which are traditionally considered as forest industrial territories, face the challenge of lack of economically accessible forests. The forests are decreasing against a background of under exploitation of the annual allowable cut. This situation occurs in Siberia as well. In many cases, using calculated allowable cut will result in unsustainable harvest levels and a future decrease of accessible forest resources. Thus, the statement that «a volume of wood resource utilization is determined by allowable cut represented the scientifically grounded norm of sustainable forest use» is considered as no more than the declarative proposition. Modeling the normal forest, and using a formula of allowable cut calculation estimated for some decades based on the modeling, is totally unreliable and unreal. The long-term forecast should use analog methods, but it will hardly be sufficiently accurate and adequate to set norms. In order to estimate ecological and economic accessibility of forest resources, an algorithm was made, and a method and model were developed. This model is based on GIS-database and makes it possible to estimate accessibility of forest resources and to map it as well. The conclusion on necessity to determine annual allowable cut in two varieties was drawn following the procedures for calculating annual allowable cut. The first variety is silvicultural (according the currently used methods) and the other one is economically accessible allowable cut, which could provide economic effective use of tradable mature wood, taking in to account ecological and economic accessibility of forest resources.

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Sustainable use of wood may contribute to coping with energy and material resource challenges. The goal of this study is to increase knowledge of the environmental effects of wood use by analyzing the complete value chain of all wooden goods produced or consumed in Switzerland. We start from a material flow analysis of current wood use in Switzerland. Environmental impacts related to the material flows are evaluated using life cycle assessment-based environmental indicators. Regarding climate change, we find an overall average benefit of 0.5 tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent per cubic meter of wood used. High environmental benefits are often achieved when replacing conventional heat production and energy-consuming materials in construction and furniture. The environmental performance of wood is, however, highly dependent on its use and environmental indicators. To exploit the mitigation potential of wood, we recommend to (1) apply its use where there are high substitution benefits like the replacement of fossil fuels for energy or energy-intensive building materials, (2) take appropriate measures to minimize negative effects like particulate matter emissions, and (3) keep a systems perspective to weigh effects like substitution and cascading against each other in a comprehensive manner. The results can provide guidance for further in-depth studies and prospective analyses of wood-use scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message : Despite agreements on definitions, the national data provided for international reporting are lacking comparability. To address this limitation the European National Forest Inventory Network has established criteria to harmonise definitions and to provide tools to transform national data into internationally comparable data. Context: Forest reporting presents a series of challenges for countries, owing to diverse processes at international level such as the Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA), Convention on Biological Diversity, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol. Further challenges are faced at European level with Forest Europe and policy needs. Aims: The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the national and international forest reporting processes and of the role of the National Forest Inventories (NFIs) and the long-associated challenges resulting from a lack of comparability in definitions used. In addition, there is a discussion on the role of the European National Forest Inventory Network (ENFIN) as a facilitator for enhancing harmonization and comparability of national data and the ancillary information required to monitor European forestry-related policies. Methods: NFIs take part to international reporting processes as providers of information. They are correspondent to the FRA process, and then they know very well the context of harmonization. Participating in the ENFIN research projects, NFIs, and particularly authors, conducted a screening exercise on harmonization status at European and World level. Results: This review article is a synthesis of the main findings of the abovementioned screening exercise. It highlights the main gaps in terms of comparability of result in international reporting. Thanks to ENFIN harmonization research project, it gives same ways of working as a possible benchmark for the rest of the world. Conclusion: Based on the international reporting exercises, their interactions, and impacts on new forestry policy requirements, the need for a strengthened harmonization process can clearly be demonstrated. Due to European policy needs, research work within ENFIN has been initiated to develop tools for building comparable results at international level. This work is an important benchmark particularly for countries outside Europe from which to base future harmonization work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For national and international reporting on forest available for wood supply (FAWS), harmonized data are needed. This information is required as forests provide goods for various sectors like the timber industry or the bioenergy sector. The effect of applying different thresholds to the three restriction classes (environmental, social and economic restriction) within the proposed reference definition for FAWS was evaluated. We applied the reference definition for FAWS to national data sets provided by five European National Forest Inventories using harmonized thresholds. The effects on FAWS area and growing stock were evaluated for each restriction and threshold. All countries within this study could report on protected areas. Social restrictions were not applied in any country, data on other restrictions are available but definitions vary. The application of common thresholds for restrictions proved difficult as effects vary between countries. The economic restriction is the most challenging to assess as many countries do not have corresponding data for direct calculation of, e.g., harvesting costs. Using proxies for harvesting costs was difficult, as common thresholds may not be applied in different countries. For standardized reporting, a FAWS definition should be developed that utilizes existing, harmonized indicators to describe restrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wood is a versatile natural resource widely utilized for material and energy purposes. In recent years, the growth in demand of harvested wood in Germany caused by efforts in substituting non-renewable materials and energy-intensive resources, as well as fluctuation in oil prices, has created challenges in the current harvesting and processing rates of primary and secondary wood raw materials, respectively. The supply of primary raw materials is currently covered by the growing rate of forests; however, no significant reserves for a further increase of harvested wood volumes are available. Even more, an increasing use of secondary raw materials for energetic purposes has been perceived, with a crowding-out in material applications. We can say that current use of wood as primary raw material comes near to sustainable harvesting. Thus, an enhanced use of secondary raw materials shall reduce stress in demand for primary sources and should have positive impacts on the environment. Besides the estimation of total amounts of secondary raw materials, a qualitative classification shows to be useful for a potential optimization of recycling. In this article, we estimate potential waste volumes and qualities using a dynamic stock and flow model of anthropogenic wood products. We take Germany as a case study considering consumer-based patterns of material use for satisfaction of services until 2050. Based on a material flow analysis (MFA) methodology, wood products are classified under a service perspective, in 14 product groups and 23 applications with specific in-use lifetime and average raw material compositions. It was found that secondary raw materials from recycled paper wastes suffer a decrease in the following decades, while wood waste, especially from residential buildings and furniture will increase with a possible stabilization by 2040. In the model a qualitative approach is introduced to provide future quality distribution of recovered wastes. This identifies volumes of secondary raw materials in quality groups which are the basis for improvements in waste processing technologies, management and sorting, to increase high quality waste fractions, and reduce the pressure on primary raw materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Konsumpcja i Rozwój is the property of Institute for Market, Consumption & Business Cycles Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

As part of a research project on medieval trade and maritime transportation in the former Norwegian province of Bohuslän, western Sweden, a dendrochronological analysis of the so-called Mollö cog was undertaken. The wreck, which was first salvaged in 1980, was previously dated by 14C analysis. Since this provided a nearly 400-year time-span for the building of the vessel, a more precise dating was considered essential. In conjunction with dendrochronological sampling, several features not previously reported were recorded. This paper presents the find, the research history and the results of the dendrochronological investigation. © 2012 The Authors [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Vegetation changes are reconstructed based on more than 51,000 charcoal fragments of more than 380 samples from nine Bronze Age sites in northern Syria and southern Turkey. In addition to fragment proportions, special attention was paid to the frequency of Pistacia relative to Quercus and Populus/Salix relative to Tamarix, fruit-tree ubiquity, and riverine diversity in order to gain an improved understanding of the human versus climatic impact on the vegetation. The results indicate that human impacts first took place within the riverine forest. This phase was followed by land clearing within the woodland steppe, especially in the northern portion of the study area. In the south near Emar, the woodland steppe probably disappeared by the Late Bronze Age. It is uncertain whether this was caused by aridification and/or human clearing. The northward shift of the Pistacia-woodland steppe is very likely a result of climatic drying that occurred throughout the entire period under investigation. Although increased deforestation is evident through time, the small proportions of imported wood indicate that local resources were still available. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Fences are very common in rural areas, and represent important landscape elements in both tropical and temperate climate regions. In spite of their marked presence and importance, fences have been little studied, principally in Brazil. The present study examined the types of fences, the diversity of species used in their construction, as well as the diversity of their uses in a rural community in the municipality of Caruaru, Pernambuco State, northeastern Brazil. Fifty meters of fence-line in each of 50 rural properties in the community were examined, noting the diameter, height and identity of all vegetation elements used in their composition. Semi-structured interviews were also held with their builders in order to obtain information concerning fence uses. In the total of 2,500 linear meters of fence-line, 4,953 individual plant elements were identified, belonging to 51 different species. A majority of the fence elements were non-living fence posts, although the number of living posts was high. Of the total number of fence elements, 66.7% were native to the caatinga region. The large number of native species used as non-living fence posts indicates an intensive use of the caatinga vegetation and suggests the need to stimulate the use of living fence posts for conservation purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzed some socio-economic conditions of forest-dependent, non-forest dependent, and policy-sensitive municipalities in the slate of Durango, Mexico. Knowledge of the socioeconomic relationships among variables that determine the main characteristics of a geographic area is important for planners and decision makers in both public and private sectors. For example, assigning monetary resources for socio-economic development or business expansion requires recognition of the territory boundaries in which the projects are embedded. The study used 51 variables to assess the socio-economic conditions, including poverty and migration indexes, and its influence on current forest conditions. Durango's forests are characterized by pine, oak, and other conifer associations. Yearly, the forest production hits 1,8 million m³r and generates around USD $120 million. While this figures position the state as the first forest producer, it ranks seventh among the Mexican states with the highest rate of illegal immigration, primarily to the USA, and sixteenth with the highest poverty index. The study recommends diversify the use of natural resources and prioritize those policy-sensitive Counties when planning and assigning monetary resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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We estimated the material flows of wood resources during the period 1960–1999. By applying our six proposed indicators, we discussed the state of material cycling of wood resources. Through this analysis, we examined the utility and feasibility of the indicators: direct material input (DMI), use rate of recovered used products (URRUP), material use efficiency (MUE), material use time (MUT), recovery rate of used products (RRUP), and domestic processed output (DPO) for measuring the consumption of natural resources, recovery of used products (input side), recovery of by-products, reuse of used products, recovery of used products (output side), and the environmental load, respectively. We draw the following conclusions: (1) during 1960–1999, MUE (recovery of by-products) has been consistently high and both URRUP and RRUP (recovery of used products) have increased. However, DMI (the consumption of natural resources) and DPO (the environmental load) have not decreased. The recoveries of by-products and of used products have restrained the consumption of natural resources and the environmental load. However, they have not been able to reduce them; (2) MUE (recovery of by-products) is already relatively high. Therefore, the main goals in promoting material cycling in the future will be increase in MUT (reuse of used products), URRUP, and RRUP (recovery of used products). This is especially needed for used wood products. For wood products, MUT (reuse of used products) should be regarded as an important indicator as well as URRUP and RRUP (recovery of used products), because most wood products are durable. On the other hand, for paper products, URRUP and RRUP (recovery of used products) are more important than MUT (reuse of used products), because most paper products are used for short-term purposes; (3) the six indicators of material cycles are useful for analyzing the state of material cycles and discussing the future goals of material cycling. Among the practical problems in capturing material flows and calculating indicators, to capture the product stocks is most difficult to be solved. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The analysis of archaeological charcoal is used to reconstruct the wood resources in north-west Portugal from the late Bronze Age to the Roman period. In this paper, the results obtained from 12 sites are considered, and their implications for interpreting historical human behaviour towards the natural environment and vegetation are discussed. The results indicate a similar kind of exploitation of the vegetation by different populations which used a similar range of wood resources. Fifty-one taxa are identified and three main natural biotopes are distinguished, including mixed oak forest, wasteland vegetation and riparian forest. The large number of taxa identified seems to testify to the existence of a good sampling of the woody vegetation growing in the proximity of the settlements. Both dry and fresh wood were used, and the value and possible uses are suggested for some of the most frequent taxa identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quantification of forests available for wood supply (FAWS) is essential for decision-making with regard to the maintenance and enhancement of forest resources and their contribution to the global carbon cycle. The provision of harmonized forest statistics is necessary for the development of forest associated policies and to support decision-making. Based on the National Forest Inventory (NFI) data from 13 European countries, we quantify and compare the areas and aboveground dry biomass (AGB) of FAWS and forest not available for wood supply (FNAWS) according to national and reference definitions by determining the restrictions and associated thresholds considered at country level to classify forests as FAWS or FNAWS. FAWS represent between 75 and 95 % of forest area and AGB for most of the countries in this study. Economic restrictions are the main factor limiting the availability of forests for wood supply, accounting for 67 % of the total FNAWS area and 56 % of the total FNAWS AGB, followed by environmental restrictions. Profitability, slope and accessibility as economic restrictions, and protected areas as environmental restrictions are the factors most frequently considered to distinguish between FAWS and FNAWS. With respect to the area of FNAWS associated with each type of restriction, an overlap among the restrictions of 13.7 % was identified. For most countries, the differences in the FNAWS areas and AGB estimates between national and reference definitions ranged from 0 to 5 %. These results highlight the applicability and reliability of a FAWS reference definition for most of the European countries studied, thereby facilitating a consistent approach to assess forests available for supply for the purpose of international reporting., (© 2019 The Authors.)