Initial observations give the impression that the forest sector in Lithuania is resistant to change and thus not open to the new activities and routines needed to foster bioenergy use. A more attentive observation, however, indicate that the barriers to overcome are more complex than simply conservative thinking. Lack of incentives and coordinated policies, lack of established management practices for harvesting and marketing residues, weak internal demand, the small size of private forests as well as their risk aversion and lack of capital are some of the most difficult issues that need to be addressed.

As a starting point in this process, a project was designed to address the various elements of bioenergy systems in the Lithuanian context using the Swedish experi­ences as a reference track. A number of studies and assessments were carried out. The idea was to collect enough local information for the establishment of demon­stration projects in Rokiskis public forests, which would then provide the basis for capacity building and dissemination of know-how related to bioenergy systems in the country. Some 15 to 20 per cent of the total national fellings are performed in this region, of which approximately half takes place in state-owned forests and the other half in private properties.

Table 7.1 summarizes the main studies that were carried out in the state-owned Rokiskis forests, indicating questions that these studies were striving to answer and the main methodologies used. The following section addresses some of the major results that emerged from the various studies.