Guidebook of reed business

Expanding reed beds along the Northern Baltic Sea pose a challenge to both coastal residence and natural biodiversity. When overgrowing recreational areas along the coastal areas, reeds trouble surface water quality, boating and swimming and thus, bring forth the need to get rid of reed where it is concerned as a nuisance. On the other hand, reed is known to have a huge potential in many aspects: it can serve as a non-crop energy species, and the material is excellent in in many ways construction.A joint three-year Cofreen -project was established to promote this goal. It was funded by the EU’s Central Baltic INTERREG IVA 2001-2013 Programme, and was led by the Turku Universi-ty of Applied Sciences. Consortium consisted of 7 partners from Finland, Estonia and Latvia. Cofreen relied on the existing knowledge of the previous reed projects and brought that together with the added new perspectives to utilization and reed business possibilities.To enable substantial reed utilization, first we need to recognize the obstacles in reed harvesting and integrated land management. Secondly, logistics and end users have to be identified and opti-mized to achieve a successful production chain. What is finally left under the line holds often oth-er than monetary values in sound accordance with economical values.This Guidebook offers visions to wide range reed utilization possibilities and preconditions. Reed issues have been our long-term interest and solutions have been developed to achieve multiple benefits for the region, environment and markets. Increasing awareness of the wide range poten-tial of reed biomass opens a chance to concrete business opportunities. Shifting from fossil based to bio-based economy is widely acknowledged, and partner organizations in Cofreen are more than willing to promote this goal.Turku 5.6.2013On behalf of the Cofreen-project,Anne HemmiProject Manager, Cofreen-project (EU Central Baltic INTERREG IVA 2007-2013)