Arnsberger Waldforum 2024 in Review
Early November in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The forest is changing its colours and, in the town of Arnsberg, roughly 100 people gather. They represent governments, companies, foresters, researchers, and other associations who are eager to discuss other changes in the forest. The 15th edition of the Arnsberger Waldforum focuses on digitalisation in the forestry sector, which we are well-acquainted with through projects such as FutureForest, so of course wetransform is there.
The Waldforum is very well-organised and its topics well-matched, with its subjects divided into three themed blocks:
- Basic Forestry Data and Standards - Forest Inventory, Forest Management, and Planning
- Data in the Wood Supply Chain
- Business Models and Process Data, Communication
Three to five 25-minute presentations take place on the Waldforum’s stage each day, culminating in a joint Q&A session with the speakers at the end of every block. This setup allows the speakers to go into depth on their subject and everyone in attendance to become thoroughly informed. After a key note speech by Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rossmann of RWTH Aachen, the thematic blocks start.
Basic Forestry Data and Standards - Forest Inventory, Forest Management, and Planning
The Waldforum’s first block features presentations by Waldinfo NRW, as well as the projects EDE4.0 and ForestSatCert.
The focus across the board is on the use of data in forest management. On behalf of Waldinfo NRW, Sandra Machalica explains the climate-related effects visible in existing forestry data, as well as the digital tools already to hand. In the future, digital twins for forests should provide even more interactive climate-adaptation support for private forest owners in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Project EDE 4.0 presents a decision support system for logging planning, but the application was not demonstrated., a follow-up project has been awarded. In the future, the project aims to utilise artificial intelligence (AI) to help decide which type, quantity, and quality of timber is to be felled on the basis of district and stand-related data, as well as climate modelling and forecasts.
Representing the Kuratorium für Waldarbeit und Forsttechnik, Prof. Dr. Ivan Sopushynskyy explains the merits and difficulties presented when utilising the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) in forestry. As of 2024, four global systems are operational: the United States's Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia's Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), and the European Union's Galileo. With such a global system, there is a lot of valuable data to be found, but not all is equally suitable for forestry. GNSS-receivers are available in prices that range from €20 to over €60.000, and while factors such as air humidity, vegetation density, and solar activity can be measured, other relevant influences such as rainfall and substrate density are not. The project ForestSatCert aims to provide certification for surveying equipment and procedures based on how well they perform in forestry.
Data in the Wood Supply Chain
The Waldforum’s second block is opened by Dr.-Ing. Ina Ehrhardt of the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation (IFF), followed by Ralf Dreeke of WAHLERS Forsttechnik, Friedrich Hollmeier of STIHL,, and Julia Kemmerer of Bayerische Staatsforsten.
Dr. Ehrhardt’s presentation on digital approaches to forest development focuses on navigation within the forest. She looked back on the past digitalisation of existing maps, a process which included qualitative improvements to those maps. After this, the current digital availability of over 550.000km of forest roads in Navlog was shown as a basis for future developments. Road maintenance and repair are often the second-largest cost block for forestry operations, right after the cost of timber harvesting itself, so these developments will strongly feature sensor-based road condition monitoring aided by machine learning and AI, alongside other potential innovations.
Another presentation, by Ralf Dreeke of WAHLERS Forsttechnik, discusses how the digitalisation of individual areas in the forestry industry is already relatively advanced. This includes data collection from harvesters and tools, logistics, forest management, and the timber trade. However, the interconnection of these segments is still rather lacking, often due to a lack of investment. Mr. Dreeke makes the case that in order to fix this, many different disciplines have to work together. Not only tech, administrations, and forestry, but even lawyers, psychologists, business analysts, and many others will be required to contribute.
Business Models and Process Data, Communication
The third and final block of Waldforum 2024 takes up the bulk of the second day. It features further presentations by the RIF Institut für Forschung und Transfer, Jan Hüsing of Forst Erklärt, Bertil Stapel of treeva, Prof. Dr. Martin Ziesak of iFOS, and finally Ludwig Graf Douglas of TimberTom.
Frank Heinze explains the infrastructure project Kompetenzzentrum Wald und Holz 4.0 (KWH 4.0) as innovation through sensible further development of existing concepts. As with previous presentations, there is an emphasis on a lot of digitalisation that already exists, but has yet to live up to its full potential due to the sheer number of people and organisations involved. At the moment, everything is still quite heterogeneous and much is to be gained through improved interconnectivity. KWH 4.0 aims to change this through the use of data spaces, digital twins, and robust networking between innovators.
In his presentation, Prof. Dr. Ziesak tells us that AI is already playing a key role in the digitalisation of the forestry industry and will continue to do so. It will aid in increasing the efficiency of employees and streamlining processes. The next step: Embedded AI in systems and equipment, such as smart chainsaws, digital road condition assessments, and wildfire detectors.
As the conference’s final speaker, Ludwig Graf Douglas presented a cloud-based forest management system, including economic data. Old-fashioned and unwieldy technology causes sub-optimal processes, but modern integrated cloud-software can improve matters. The final goal is to manage healthy, high-yielding and climate-resilient forests through stock reduction and improved sustainability.
Conclusion
The 2024 edition of the Arnsberger Waldforum was a worthy 15th anniversary.
The many speakers demonstrated that the digitalisation of forestry has already come a long way. In these cases, as Prof. Roßmann put it: Digitalisation means first defining the process and then maximising efficiency with software. Once digital, even further gains can be made by creating robust interconnectivity between solutions. Digital twins and data spaces were therefore a very hot topic.
If you want to learn more about the digital future of forestry, join us in March next year for SmartForest 2025!
