Opportunities for a Forest Energy Industry in aDeveloping Country: An Example from Moldova

By VITALIE GULA ANDROBERT DEAL

Developing sus-tainable ener-gy from forest

biomass presentsboth opportunitiesand challenges forthe future genera-tions of Moldova. Vitalie GulcaLocated in the south-eastern part ofEurope betweenUkraine andRomania, Moldova isa relatively poorcountry with limitednatural resources Robert Dealcompared with other developingEuropean countries such as Albaniaor Bosnia. This lack of fossil fuels(natural gas, oil and coal) has result-ed in a strong economical and politi-cal dependence on large neighboringcountries including Russia andUkraine. Historically, agriculture hasbeen the dominant land use; howev-er, poor land practices in the countryhas degraded some of the formerlyrichest soils in the world to a greatlydiminished economy with few alter-natives. The development of a forestbiomass and energy industry basedon forest resources could diversifyand greatly improve the economy.

Forest products and naturalresources have had significant andpositive effects on the economies ofother countries in Europe. InSweden, for instance, it was thedevelopment of the mining, forestand hydroelectric industries fromindigenous raw material that enabledthem to become a modern industrialnation. Denmark may soon becomethe world leader in straw combustionand Norway is developing a robustwood pellets industry. Developing a

26 . NORTHWEST WOODLANDS. SUMMER2010

A landscape in the north part of Republic Moldova.

bioenergy pro-gram forMoldova basedon forest biomassmay provide asimilar strategythat could greatlyimprove the econ-omy. Thisapproach wouldencourage farm-ers to investmoney, land andtime in commer-cial forestry prac- Seed-tree method in Codrii, the most afforested central part of

Moldova.tices aimed atdeveloping a bioenergy economy.The development of a bioenergy pro-gram for Moldova could result ineconomic independence, security andsocial health for future generations.However, there are numerous cultur-al, historical and political challengesthat need to be overcome before thiscan be achieved.

The current total land area ofMoldova is only about 13,000 squaremiles and is dominated by agricultur-allands (58 percent), pastures (19percent) and small villages (11 per-cent). Forest and water areas are lim-ited, with forests and water compris-ing about 11 percent and one percent

of land area, respectively. The annualaverage temperature is 30-36 degreesF, and precipitation ranges from 22inches in the northern part of thecountry to 15 inches in the south.Forests cover about 804,000 acreswith predominantly broad-leavedtrees including oaks, acacia, ash,hornbeam and poplar. The totalgrowing stock is 1,241 billion ft3 or286 ft3 of wood per capita, with anaverage of 4,379 ft3 per hectare. Theaverage annual growth of the forestsis estimated at 117 ft3/year/ha. Incomparison, Oregon's annual growth(including all forestland) is 182ft3/year/ha. The total annual growth

of Moldova is around 39 million ft3

per year. In Oregon, gross totalannual growth is 2.2 billion ft3 peryear. Moldova's forest sector suppliesabout 16 million ft3 of wood massper year to the national economy.From total average annual harvestedwood (14 million ft3) only 1.4 millionft3 (10 percent) is industrial timber.Most wood is used for firewood,which satisfies 60-70 percent of theheating needs in rural areas. Almostall forestland is publicly owned andthe state has exclusive responsibilityfor environmental protection func-tions.

Moldova is a net energy importer,with only three percent of demandfor primary energy covered bydomestic sources. The total con-sumption of primary energeticresources (e.g. 6.5 million tones in2004), could be provided by 670 mil-lion ft3 of forest biomass. To meetenergy demands, harvesting an aver-age of 9,000-12,000 ft3 from 140,000-190,000 acres of forests would berequired. By also improving the pro-duction from biomass plantationsand using other renewable resourcesof energy such as sun, wind andwater, the forest area could bereduced to 75,000-100,000 acres.Using a forest rotation age of 15-20years, approximately one to two mil-lion acres would need to be convert-ed into biomass energy plantations.This may be difficult to achieve, butcreating forestland for biomass andenergy production from private lands(most farmland in Moldova is pri-vate) would generate diverse eco-nomic opportunities for privatelandowners and include forestryalong with agriculture and livestockthat is more sustainable.

There are three principal barriersto promote forest biomass as fuel orenergy: lack of knowledge andexpertise; legislative policy; and tra-ditions. Producing renewable energyin developing countries will requireovercoming institutional, technical,economic, financial and information-al barriers. The actual impediments

for the promotion of small-scaleforestry in Moldova as a condition toproduce energy from forest biomassinclude reconciling conflict betweenpastures for rural people, prioritiesfor private and state forests, invest-ments in forestry and other economicfactors. Bioenergy for Moldovabecomes a question of economicindependence, security and socialhealth. As a consequence, to produceenergy using forest biomass from cre-ated private forests will require localrural people to solve current chal-

lenges for future generations ofMoldova and to learn to sustainablymanage forests.