Forest Carbon and Forest Carbon flux in Kainuu region

Picture 1. The forests in Kainuu region are typically coniferous forests, under practical silviculture

Kainuu region is geographically a central or central-eastern region in Finland. It is forested, scarcely populated region. Forestry is an important source of livelihood in the region.

The amount of solid cubic meters in 2011 in Kainuu forests was 163 million cubic meters and 172 million cubic meters in 2016. Correspondingly, the area of forest hectares was 1.930 million hectares and 1.928 million hectares in 2011 and 2016, respectively (NFI 11 and NFI 12 inventories).

With average Carbon Multiplier CM = 0.35314 tn C/m3 the total Carbon stock (stems, branches, foliage, roots) in Kainuu was 57.6 million tons in 2011 and 60.7 million tons in 2016.

Forest carbon number is calculated by dividing the total carbon stock (c, tn C) at certain time point (t, years) with the forest land area (fl, hectares) at certain time point, for the selected area.

(1)     fc(t) = c(t) / fl(t)

Carbon stock c(t) equation for Kainuu is

(2)     c(t) = 0.6357 * t -1221

Forest land (fl) equation for Pohjois-Pohjanmaa is

(3)     fl(t) = -0.0004 * t + 2.7344

The recent development of Forest Carbon, fc(t), in Kainuu region is shown in Figure 1. 

Figure 1. Development of Forest carbon number (fc) in Kainuu, Finland since 2009.

The calculated forest Carbon number in Kainuu for year 2020 is 32.9 tons elementary Carbon per forest hectare. The Carbon number is a little below the national average, 36.3 tn C/ha.

The Forest carbon flux,  cf(t), is the derivative for the Carbon stock equation (1):

(4)     cf(t) = dfc / dt = (fc'(t) * fl(t) - fc(t) * fl'(t)) / (fl(t))^2

fc' is the derivative for forest carbon number (fc)

fl' is the derivative for forest land area (fl)


The development of recent Forest carbon flux, cf(t), in Kainuu region is shown in Figure 2.



The calculated forest Carbon flux into Kainuu forests for year 2020 is 337 kilograms elementary Carbon per forest hectare. The flux is a typical Carbon sink flux, from atmosphere to forests.

The regional Kainuu Carbon sink flux (337 kg C/ha/a) is a little below the national average in Finland (413 kg C/ha/a). It tells about moderately successful silviculture in this region.

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