People’s knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes towards stump harvesting for bioenergy production in Finland

• Main Authors: Rahman, Abul, Khanam, Tahamina, Pelkonen, Paavo
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Stump; karelia*
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032116310012

In the past few decades, several studies have been conducted about the effects of stump harvesting on forests. Extensive stump harvesting began in Finland in 2000 for bioenergy purposes. Today, however, there are several ongoing discussions on producing energy from tree stump harvesting. Hence, the present study aimed to investigate people's knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes about stump harvesting by conducting a questionnaire survey during Silva fair in North Karelia in Finland. The results of the study indicated that 70% of the respondents showed quite good knowledge about stump harvesting. Respondents with high knowledge had critical perceptions and attitudes concerning stump harvesting. The study indicated that respondents supported stump harvesting only for forest management or site preparation, not for revenue. There were significant differences between forest owners and non-owners, between respondents with forestry backgrounds and non-forestry backgrounds, and between males and females regarding revenue. Respondents with high knowledge agreed that stump harvesting is good for forest management but not for biodiversity. Respondents had positive attitudes towards learning more about stump harvesting and using fuel from stumps. The study indicated that although people have some negative perceptions and attitudes towards stump harvesting, on the whole, they accept it as part of their future bioenergy sources. We deem that the results of our study will accelerate bioenergy policy makers’ interests. Bioenergy; Knowledge; Perception; Attitude; Stump harvesting;