Sustainable timber production is defined as the extraction of timber with minimum environmental impact during harvesting.
Unlike what many people understand, sustainable wood production doesn’t mean stopping using this material, but that the use of wood is more rational and environmentally responsible, ensuring that the future of the next generations is not compromised.
So, read on if you want to know what are the sustainable practices around the timber industry.
What is sustainable wood?
Sustainable or renewable wood is obtained legally, which means that the trees that are cut down don’t come from native forests where the species are protected, but they come from plantation forests.
These seed forests are plantations where species that are not endangered grow, so cutting these trees is not harmful to the environment, since for every tree cut down, 1 or more trees are planted.
This way the forest is not deprived of trees as this is the main cause of environmental imbalance.
In addition, in these sustainable plantations, the preservation of the trees is sought, as well as the preservation of the entire ecosystem. In other words, it is invested in the maintenance of water sources near the forests, such as lakes, streams and rivers, among others.
Likewise, sustainable timber production must guarantee the subsistence of animal species and, in the eventual case of wood pest infestations, companies dedicated to sustainable plantation must use natural treatments that don’t endanger the ecosystem.
Main axes of sustainable production
Not planting in native forests
Not planting in native forests is one of the main objectives of sustainable timber production, since it destroys protected areas and can seriously alter the environmental balance.
Natural ecosystems are very sensitive and can easily and rapidly deteriorate due to human intervention.
Sustainable production should help communities
Sustainable timber production must help the native communities surrounding the plantations.
Therefore, the idea is for companies to develop business models that allow the natives to earn money so that they can generate well-being in their communities.
Therefore, the sustainable timber industry must ensure that native communities maintain environmental control over natural resources since it is the people who live in these ecosystems who often know how to preserve them.
In addition, the responsible exploitation of natural resources implies that the full potential of what is extracted must be used, that is, not only is the tree felled for its timber, but also the branches are used for medicinal purposes, or the leaves are used to extract oils that can be used in various industries.
And this is where the native communities become so important since they are the ones who can tell the businessmen about the potential of the fruit of a tree or the commercial use that can be given to some derivative of the process of obtaining the wood.
Similarly, in cases where the communities teach the companies about the benefits of a tree’s fruit, the companies can serve to open a line of commerce that helps the communities to have a stable income.
Similarly, companies engaged in sustainable timber production must manage the waste that results from the timber extraction process.
This includes caring for soils and preferring native species of the country where the crops are grown. For example, in countries located in the tropics, tropical woods such as teak are preferred.
On the other hand, woods that are exotic to these environments, such as Acacia wood, are grown in smaller proportions or simply not grown at all.
This is why sustainable production is more costly since it is necessary to restore ecosystems that are often degraded.
Why not plant exotic species?
In a sustainable plantation, the production of exotic wood is avoided because there is a risk that the new species will compete with the native ones and damage them.
Eucalyptus is a species native to Oceania, more precisely to Australia, and its cultivation has spread all over the planet in the last 150 years.
The problem is that this species consumes a lot of water and has the tendency to be very competitive with other species, this means that it is quite difficult for any other tree to grow near a Eucalyptus forest, as they dry the soils.
Sustainable crops allow diversification
One great example of diversification is sustainable teak plantations, where practically nothing is wasted and all the products derived from this tree have a high commercial value.
Teak is one of the most valuable and appreciated woods in the world because it is probably the most naturally durable.
And that is due to the oils it naturally produces.
In the past,, the exploitation of teak focused almost exclusively on the extraction of wood from the tree.
But over time a tendency to use the branches and leaves to extract the natural oil began. It was discovered that this oil could be used to treat and treat other types of wood.
What we mean by this is that responsible exploitation makes it possible to find diverse applications for the products obtained, which reduces the waste typical of uncontrolled exploitation that only leaves environmental devastation.
What happens if forest exploitation is not sustainable?
If forest exploitation continues without any kind of control, the main consequence will be the worsening of current climatic conditions.
One of the factors that have accelerated the problem of global warming is the emission of greenhouse gases.
This accumulation of gases can occur with greater force in areas with heavy deforestation since trees not only produce oxygen but also absorb the CO2 in the environment.
In addition, forests prevent the wind from circulating too strongly, which causes the extreme drying of soils, a factor that affects both agriculture and livestock farming.
Trees also promote the production of rainfall, and that’s why often heavily-deforested places suffer more droughts.
Likewise, forests can help minimize the harmful effects of excess rainfall since trees can absorb a large portion of the excess water, which prevents the liquid from washing away nearby populations, as well as soil rotting.
Massive cattle ranching and extensive agriculture are the major causes of deforestation.
Massive agriculture has had a disastrous impact on the well-being of forests as human populations deforest large forest areas to plant crops of all kinds.
The problem is that the trees cut down are not replaced and the CO2 they had absorbed while standing is now returned to the environment, increasing the greenhouse gas ratio.
On the other hand, livestock farming has become a serious problem in many countries as its practice have been used for land grabbing.
This means that some people (individuals or groups) use livestock holdings to justify the appropriation of land that was originally public or even protected.
So, a “cattle rancher” can have 30, 40, 50 or more cows that can cover a plot of land of several hectares.
Unfortunately, these hectares are devastated by the cattle, and on many occasions the trees suffer as well as the animals eat their branches and leaves, leaving them unprotected against the elements.
In addition, if those who take over the land feel like the trees are in their way, they simply cut them down and leave them there, i.e., they don’t even use the wood.
Therefore, they destroy the habitat of birds and other animals and alter the ecological balance of the area severely.
Yet, perhaps the most serious thing is that the world needs more trees to be able to satisfy the oxygen demands that humanity will demand in the coming years, and the space to plant them exists, only that it is occupied by massive crops and extensive livestock farming.
Sustainable timber and the need for biofuels
The world is facing its worst environmental situation in years, and indeed the other cause of worsening climate change is the use of fossil fuels such as oil and all its derivatives.
That is why many governments are turning their attention to wood as a biofuel. Burning wood is one of the least carbon-intensive methods, provided that the felled trees are replaced in the same proportion as they are cut down.
Although countries such as Sweden claim to have increased cubic meters of forest, the current concern is mainly focused on the question:
Will there be enough wood to satisfy all current and future uses?
And the truth is no one knows for sure.
In fact, some critics say that there are timber exporting countries that will only keep up with the demand they have if they start using wood from their native forests, which is unacceptable from an environmental point of view.
There is not enough wood in the world
In an interview for the international news network DW in 2020, Professor Johan Bergh of Linnaeus University in Växjö Sweden explained that the planet’s current forest resources are not sufficient for a large-scale bioenergy transformation.
Bergh stated that there are simply not enough trees to obtain the wood needed to supply the demand of industries such as biodiesel or bioethanol.
Why should sustainable timber production be pursued?
The most positive aspect of sustainable timber harvesting is that the ecosystem is given the necessary time to recompose itself after several trees have been felled.
This means that if 4 trees are felled, at least 4 to 8 new trees must have been planted.
In addition, sustainable production uses practices such as partial felling, which consists of using only a certain sector of the entire plantation for tree felling.
Selective logging of mature trees, which have the best timber, is also employed.
Thus, the youngest trees have the opportunity to continue growing until they have the best quality wood.
All this maintains the environmental balance even when trees are being cut down.
Then, when the appropriate trees have been felled, they are moved to another sector of the plantation. By the time the plantation returns to the initial sector, enough time has passed for the young trees to have matured.