Canadian biomass reserves for biorefining.

A lignocellulosic-based biorefining strategy may be supported by biomass reserves, created initially with residues from wood product processing or agriculture. Biomass reserves might be expanded using innovative management techniques that reduce vulnerability of feedstock in the forest products or agricultural supply chain. Forest-harvest residue removal, disturbance isolation, and precommercial thinnings might produce 20-33 x 10(6) mt/yr of feedstock for Canadian biorefineries. Energy plantations on marginal Canadian farmland might produce another 9-20 mt. Biomass reserves should be used to support first-generation biorefining installations for bioethanol production, development of which will lead to the creation of future high-value coproducts. Suggestions for Canadian policy reform to support biomass reserves are provided.

Updates on softwood-to-ethanol process development.

Softwoods are generally considered to be one of the most difficult lignocellulosic feedstocks to hydrolyze to sugars for fermentation, primarily owing to the nature and amount of lignin. If the inhibitory effect of lignin can be significantly reduced, softwoods may become a more useful feedstock for the bioconversion processes. Moreover, strategies developed to reduce problems with softwood lignin may also provide a means to enhance the processing of other lignocellulosic substrates. The Forest Products Biotechnology Group at the University of British Columbia has been developing softwood-to-ethanol processes with SO2-catalyzed steam explosion and ethanol organosolv pretreatments. Lignin from the steam explosion process has relatively low reactivity and, consequently, low product value, compared with the high-value coproduct that can be obtained through organosolv. The technical and economic challenges of both processes are presented, together with suggestions for future process development.

Assessing the emerging biorefinery sector in Canada.

The biorefinery is a key concept used in the strategies and visions of many industrial countries. The potential for Canadian biorefineries based on lignocellulosic forest and agricultural residues is examined. The sector is described in terms of research interests, emerging companies, and established corporate interests. It is found that the Canadian biorefining sector currently has an emphasis on specific bioproduct generation, and the process elements required for a true sugar-based process are in the research phase. A Canadian national strategy should focus on increasing forest industry participation, and increasing collaboration with the provinces, particularly in western Canada.

Industrial sustainability of competing wood energy options in Canada.

The amount of sawmill residue available in Canada to support the emerging cellulosic ethanol industry was examined. A material flow analysis technique was employed to determine the amount of sawmill residue that could possibly be available to the ethanol industry per annum. A combination of two key trends--improved efficiency of lumber recovery and increased uptake of sawmill residues for self-generation and for wood pellet production--have contributed to a declining trend of sawmill residue availability. Approximately 2.3 x 106 bone-dry tons per year of sawmill residue was estimated to be potentially available to the cellulosic ethanol industry in Canada, yielding 350 million liters per year of cellulosic ethanol using best practices. An additional 2.7 billion liters of cellulosic ethanol might be generated from sawmill residue that is currently used for competing wood energy purposes, including wood pellet generation. Continued competition between bioenergy options will reduce the industrial sustainability of the forest industry. Recommendations for policy reforms towards improved industrial sustainability practices are provided.

Bottom up and top down: analysis of participatory processes for sustainability indicator identification as a pathway to community empowerment and sustainable environmental management.

The modern environmental management literature stresses the need for community involvement to identify indicators to monitor progress towards sustainable development and environmental management goals. The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of participatory processes on sustainability indicator identification and environmental management in three disparate case studies. The first is a process of developing partnerships between First Nations communities, environmental groups, and forestry companies to resolve conflicts over forest management in Western Canada. The second describes a situation in Botswana where local pastoral communities worked with development researchers to reduce desertification. The third case study details an on-going government led process of developing sustainability indicators in Guernsey, UK, that was designed to monitor the environmental, social, and economic impacts of changes in the economy. The comparative assessment between case studies allows us to draw three primary conclusions. (1) The identification and collection of sustainability indicators not only provide valuable databases for making management decisions, but the process of engaging people to select indicators also provides an opportunity for community empowerment that conventional development approaches have failed to provide. (2) Multi-stakeholder processes must formally feed into decision-making forums or they risk being viewed as irrelevant by policy-makers and stakeholders. (3) Since ecological boundaries rarely meet up with political jurisdictions, it is necessary to be flexible when choosing the scale at which monitoring and decision-making occurs. This requires an awareness of major environmental pathways that run through landscapes to understand how seemingly remote areas may be connected in ways that are not immediately apparent.