world news - 14.04.2008
New Zealand Wood welcomes forestry productivity indicators
NZ Wood
welcomes indicators for forestry productivity. Development
of scientifically-robust productivity indicators for New
Zealand’s forestry sites will help ensure the long-term
sustainability of forests as a resource, according to NZ
Wood. Crown Research Institute, Scion, announced on
Tuesday, that it has developed key soil and environmental
indicators showing the productive capacity of sites in every
part of New Zealand where someone may want to plant a
forest. Spokesperson for NZ Wood, Geoff Henley, said the
announcement was a big step forward for the industry. It
would allow evidence-based forecasts as to the productive
capacity of potential new sites as well as allowing
monitoring of existing forest sites to ensure they were
being managed sustainably. “Wood is our most renewable
raw material,” Mr Henley said. “But in order to
demonstrate true long-term sustainability, the industry
needs tools that readily show its management practices are
not depleting the land forests are grown on.” Scion’s
development is built on the existing strength of the
environmental practices within New Zealand’s forestry
industry. There was evidence that commercial forestry
plantations actually protected the land, he said. They
provided protection from erosion and did not appear to
diminish soil quality over time. “Forested land has
successfully supported multiple cycles of growth and
harvesting, or is almost immediately suitable for other uses
such as dairy farming if not reforested.” The ability to
evaluate potential new sites for plantation forestry was
also particularly timely, given current recognition of the
valuable role forests play in reducing atmospheric carbon
dioxide, Mr Henley said. “NZ Wood also believes that the
best economic returns for the country can be achieved by
planting forests that are commercially efficient and
productive. “This ensures that wood, with all its
environmental benefits, will also remain cost-competitive
for users compared with less environmentally-friendly
alternatives.” Mr Henley said wood and forests fought
climate change, with forests absorbing carbon dioxide from
the atmosphere and wood products storing this carbon, often
for centuries.
See also:
- — Russia Plans Timber Tracking to Control Illegal Logging
- — Siberia's black market logging
- — The storm Gudrun cost approximately 2 billion euro
- — Timber industry is in trouble
- — Russia: First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov proposes to set up a cluster of wood-working companies in the Russian Far East
