Working Paper 1999-23 for Internal Circulation Only

Researchers are invited to present ideas and research results in this forum to accelerate their application and to foster interdisciplinary discussion on knowledge, strategies and tools leading to sustainable management of Canada's boreal forest. Working Papers are published without peer review. Abstract This research focuses on the evaluation of the potential for the adoption of life cycle assessment (LCA) methodologies for exploring the concept of sustainable forest management in the boreal forest. The work includes a review of LCA and suggests a possible framework for its implementation with the aim of making the complex task of sustainable forest management (SFM) easier to tackle. It is suggested that the LCA technique per se might not be powerful enough to handle such an enormous task. However, the underlying concept of life cycle thinking might be a good candidate for dealing with some of the encompassing issues characterising SFM. LCA is basically a methodology that evaluates the environmental burdens associated with the entire life cycle of a product or activity. This involves identification and quantification of materials and energy use and waste discharges to the environment followed by a characterisation of the respective environmental impacts. Current methodologies, based on life cycle thinking, are still evolving in an effort to improve the evaluation of environmental effects and to incorporate additional environmental issues, including socioeconomic aspects.