Bioeconomy entrepreneurship intrigues students
EFI Blog » Bioeconomy
by Venla Wallius and Fredric Mosley
1y ago
According to a recent survey targeting life science students in Europe, nearly 30% of respondents are very interested in becoming entrepreneurs in the field of bioeconomy. However, there are barriers that prevent students from pursuing business opportunities. To tackle the ecological crisis, the European Union and member states have set targets for developing bioeconomy solutions. Companies and individuals are encouraged to develop and test solutions to bridge the sustainability gap. Life science students — as future professionals — are crucial in shaping the path forward. Understanding their ..read more
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Is there enough wood?
EFI Blog » Bioeconomy
by Lauri Hetemäki
1y ago
By Lauri Hetemäki, Professor of Practice, University of Helsinki and Marc Palahí, Director, EFI Recently, Jason Mitchell argued that “Net zero could drive up the global demand for timber, putting at risk the world’s forests” and that we will face wood shortage in the future. He concluded that “Currently, humanity is asking too much from the world’s forests” (Mitchell 2022). Here, we ask whether this is indeed the case?    Generally, it is thought that the development of the forest bioeconomy will increase the demand for wood resources. At the same time, there is an increasing demand ..read more
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Three principles for Biocities
EFI Blog » Bioeconomy
by Marco Marchetti
1y ago
EFI’s 2022 Scientific Seminar on Biocities: placing nature and people at the centre of the urban environment took place in Barcelona on 6 October. Professor Marco Marchetti sets out the three main principles emerging from the seminar, which form the basis for the future activities of the EFI Biocities Facility. Biocities is a new vision that EFI wants to guide, in order to support urban areas to lead the transformation from the existing linear and fossil based economy to a circular bioeconomy. A new economy based on a new and synergistic relationship between nature and society, economy and eco ..read more
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Why is natural resource management so important?
EFI Blog » Bioeconomy
by Janez Potočnik
2y ago
As the Global Resources Outlook 2019 points out, extraction and processing of natural resources drives all aspects of the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution with health implications included. Material use, which comprises everything extracted from the earth, has tripled since 1970, and as the International Resource Panel data tells us – without transformative change – it will double again by 2060. The consequences for the triple planetary crisis will be severe. Therefore, we know it is necessary to decouple growth in well-being and prosperity from natur ..read more
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Cultivating mushrooms as part of agroforestry in Finland
EFI Blog » Bioeconomy
by Antti Tiilikainen
2y ago
FOODLEVERS – Leverage points for organic and sustainable food systems The FOODLEVERS-project uses a three-way approach to recognize leverage points to help scale up and develop “innovative organic and sustainable food systems”. It does this by examining innovative case examples in seven different European countries to help identify best practices from each of them. The three ways are: “re-connect” reinvigorating people’s connection to food growing, “re-structure, how institutions create the environment for sustainability to flourish in, and “re-think”, taking a new look at knowledge creation ..read more
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Does the EU depend on Russia for its wood?
EFI Blog » Bioeconomy
by Gert-Jan Nabuurs
2y ago
With the Russian-Ukrainian war going on, it becomes apparent how much the EU is depending on Russia for its oil and gas supply. Alternative sources and new forms of renewable energy supply will have to be developed even faster. But Russia does not only have large fossil reserves, it is also sitting on by far the largest forest in the world. With around 815 million ha of forest it almost doubles the Brazilian Amazon and amounts to about 25% of total global forests. Now with the ban on trade with Russia, the question comes up: how much wood and wood products is the EU importing from Russia and c ..read more
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Forest bioeconomy is an essential part of mitigating and adapting to climate change
EFI Blog » Bioeconomy
by Lauri Hetemäki
2y ago
The biggest cause of climate change is the use of fossil raw materials. According to a new book “Forest Bioeconomy and Climate Change”, the use of fossil raw materials cannot be eliminated without replacement also by forest bioeconomy products. The role of the forest sector in mitigating and adapting to climate change is important and diverse. However, making full use of the forest bioeconomy in mitigating and adapting to climate change requires climate-smart forestry tailored to local conditions. “Isn’t it surprising that dead forests – for coal results from the decomposition of forests – sho ..read more
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Rethinking our cities
EFI Blog » Bioeconomy
by Marc Palahí
2y ago
On 15 July EFI and the Italian government signed a Host Country Agreement to establish a new office in Rome. The office will host EFI’s new Biocities Facility, which aims to create an informed dialogue on how trees, forests and wood can rethink our cities. Cities represent the good, the bad and the ugly of our world. They showcase some of our greatest challenges – but also offer some of our greatest opportunities for leading the transformation towards a climate-neutral and nature-positive economy. Winston Churchill used to say that “we shape our buildings, then they shape us”. We built and sh ..read more
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More than enough wood in the European forest
EFI Blog » Bioeconomy
by Gert-Jan Nabuurs
3y ago
by Gert-Jan Nabuurs, Bas Lerink and Mart-Jan Schelhaas “Lockdown also calls for cooldown” Since the mid-2020, timber prices have risen sharply, and many wonder why. Is there a worldwide shortage of wood? Is the forest running low? Certainly not the latter. The current price increases are driven by a combination of reasons, as discussed below. During the corona lockdowns, many people started home renovations or building new homes, which certainly led to an increase in demand. These and other construction activities have been boosted by central bank policies in the USA and the EU, which have kep ..read more
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Not so simple
EFI Blog » Bioeconomy
by Lauri Hetemäki
3y ago
Albert Einstein stated that “everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” The human brain cannot handle complex entities without first breaking them down into smaller ones. This is also how science progresses: by setting system boundaries and excluding some factors. However, taking practical action through excessive simplification can be problematic. Let’s take an example. It is often stated unequivocally that the forest industry should abandon the production of short-lived products and switch to long-lasting products. This would keep the carbon dioxide stored in them for ..read more
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