Ecological footprint of wood-based products in the Ukrainian Carpathians region

In Ukraine’s Carpathian region, the absence of research on the ecological footprint (EF) of wood products poses challenges amidst unsustainable forestry practices, climate change, and human impacts that threaten forest ecosystems and local communities. This study addresses this gap by assessing and comparing the EF of furniture boards and solid structural timber produced by two wood-processing enterprises in the Carpathians. Using the ecological footprint of production methodology based on life cycle assessment, it calculates the cumulative environmental impacts of production, use, and disposal of these products, applying global productivity and equivalency coefficients. The analysis distinguishes between direct and indirect EFs: direct EF covers land use for forest resources and other areas, while indirect considers the land required to absorb CO2 emissions from production. Findings reveal that the total EF for producing 1 m³ of furniture boards at enterprise “A” requires 0.475 ha, while structural timber at enterprise “B” needs only 0.111 ha, underscoring the different environmental impacts. A primary contributor to the EF is heat energy for drying lumber, generated by burning wood waste. Offsetting CO2 emissions from this process requires 0.353 ha/m³ of land for furniture boards and 0.088 ha/m³ - for structural timber. Additionally, electricity consumption for machinery adds 0.081 ha/m³ for furniture boards and 0.011 ha/m³ for structural timber. Transport emissions further increase the EF, with 0.026 ha/m³ required for furniture boards and 0.002 ha/m³ for structural timber. These results highlight the need for enhanced resource efficiency to mitigate environmental impacts, particularly in heat generation and transportation.