Sustainable forest management is the key to increasing wood construction
If we want to promote the production of wood products and use wood in construction, we need to adopt sustainable forest management practices and gain wider public acceptance for the harvesting of forests. Forests and wood products are deeply intertwined and must therefore be viewed as a whole, with everyone working together to see the big picture and increase acceptance.
As an organization of forest owners, we make our members’ voices heard in public discussions with the goal of ensuring the sustainability of Finnish forests for generations to come.
To increase the use of Finnish wood in buildings, we collaborate with Puuinfo, as the promotion of public acceptance and sustainable wood construction are best viewed as joint efforts.
Author: Kalle Karttunen
The built environment is the natural habitat of everyone across the world, and we all want to live in a place where we are comfortable and can enjoy life. Urbanisation is a global trend, moving people out of the wide-open countryside to more compact cities. At the same time, jobs are shifting away from industrial production to the service sector. These developments may play a role in alienating people from more rural surroundings or at least alter people’s relationship with nature. Although fewer and fewer of us now live in the countryside, many still enjoy shorter visits, whether to summer cottages or simply to immerse themselves in nature. Increasing the amount of wooden construction would not only help make living environments more pleasant, it could benefit society in general. The circular economy represents a potential replacement for today’s fossil-fuel based economy. With our abundant forests, Finland has plenty to contribute to this process, with wooden structures playing an integral part.
Forest management practices obviously impact the environment, but they are also the only way to increase wood construction. I follow plenty of forest research and forest-related public discussions as part of my work. People have a huge variety of misconceptions, and there is a general alienation from the realities of the life of forests. At the end of last year, the Metsämiesten Säätiö foundation honoured its 75th anniversary by financing a national survey. Conducted by Taloustutkimus Oy, the survey revealed that the public is highly uninformed about basic issues related to forests and the forest sector. Almost every other Finn erroneously believes that most forest areas in Finland are owned by the state or the forest industry, even though private ownership is by far more common both in terms of forest area and wood sales – and is only increasing. For example, more than 70 percent of Finnish wood is bought from private forests, providing 600,000 forest owners with approximately 2.5 billion euros in income from wood sales. People also mistakenly believe that forests are cut down faster than they grow. In reality, forest growth exceeds the number of trees cut down, and this has been true for decades. For example, the amount of wood in forests has increased by almost one billion cubic metres, or 70 percent when compared to the early 1970s. The survey also sheds light on people’s values. Perhaps naturally, those who owned forests emphasised the many different contributions that forests make to society, while recreational values were deemed most important by those who didn’t own any forests. The results clearly show that people’s knowledge and understanding differs according to their individual circumstances.
By increasing sustainable operating models and understanding, our industry could improve public acceptance of harvesting. Forest management provides raw material for wood construction and simultaneously keeps forests in good shape. Both are necessary for success, as is the work on gaining general acceptance in Finnish society and across the EU. The EU Commission is up for re-election this autumn, and we are hoping that the new term will value the circular economy as a whole. During the previous commission’s term, preparations for decision-making focused on forest protection, carbon sequestration, and diversity. Our hope is that the new commission will take a broader perspective on the potential of the forest-based bioeconomy and shift decision-making towards overall sustainability. Wood construction can play an important part in overall sustainability, as wood products have significant climate benefits in their various stages of development: new trees grow, production is low-carbon, and wood products serve as long-term carbon storage. In addition, some of the by-products of wood product manufacturing can replace more energy-intensive products used by the pulp and energy industry among others. It is important to understand that the entire value chain of the forest sector can help society transition from its current fossil-fuel based economy to the more sustainable solutions of a bioeconomy.
Kalle Karttunen, MMT, toimii metsäedunvalvonnan tutkimuspäällikkönä Maa- ja metsätaloustuottajain keskusliitossa (MTK).
