Sustainable plantations to play important role in meeting growing timber demand

by The Greenwood Team

Global consumption of wood from forests and plantations is expected to triple by 2050, according to a new report from environmental charity WWF.

The Living Forests Report, which was presented to delegates at the Paperworld industry conference in Frankfurt on Monday 28 January, endorses the use of renewable timber from well-managed forests and plantations for the production of renewable energy. Wood consumption is also expected to rise due to general population growth, demand for sustainable building materials and even paper.

Rod Taylor, who heads up the WWF’s Global Forest Program, explained, “Wood, if sourced from well-managed forests or plantations, is a renewable material with many advantages over non-renewable alternatives.”

He added that the expected increase in demand means that ensuring forests and plantations are managed sustainably has become even more important and regulation and stewardship needs to reflect this: “A scenario of tripling the amount of wood society takes from forests and plantations needs to motivate good stewardship that safeguards forests - otherwise we could destroy the very places where wood grows.”

The report outlines the challenges that lie ahead for the timber and forest sector. Finding ways to increase production of timber without harming the environment is one such challenge. Planting and managing sustainable plantations in regions where natural forests are vulnerable to deforestation is one solution.

Greenwood Management’s plantations of non-native timber varieties in Brazil are a good example of projects that provide an ongoing supply of timber for the production of charcoal or for use in house building in Brazil and elsewhere. The more alternatives there are, the less pressure there is to use wood from the rainforests.

WWF is keen to promote the idea of nurturing the forest products industry to make sure sustainably produced timber plantations can thrive and that deforestation becomes a thing of the past. Its goal is for zero net deforestation by 2020. Currently, some 13 million hectares of natural forest each year are still lost - so achieving this goal is still some way off. WWF’s manager of global pulp and paper work, Emmanuelle Neyroumande, claims reducing deforestation to zero is possible, however: “WWF’s research suggests that it is possible to achieve zero net deforestation and forest degradation while sustaining a vibrant wood products industry that meets people’s needs.”

The WWF report makes a series of recommendations, which could help the forestry industry to achieve the zero deforestation goal. One of these is to increase the use of plantations to ease pressure on natural forests. It claims that being more responsible with wood consumption, re-use and recycling will go some way towards helping reduce deforestion, but that demand for timber is still going to grow.

A further 250 million hectares of plantations could be needed to meet demand for wood by 2050 – nearly double the current amount of space given over to forestry plantations. The role of plantations, which are well managed and are planted on land that is already degraded, “will play an increasingly important role” according to WWF.