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EU Commission supports European Forest Sector assessing its sustainability
The European Union has decided to finance a major research project – EFORWOOD – to assess the sustainability of the forest-based sector and the impacts of various policy measures or technological developments on its sustainability.
 Sustainable development has three
main pillars – economic, social and environmental. Within the
forest sector those include income and employment, social activities,
healthy and productive forests, clean water and clean air. All three
pillars are needed to support each other. The forest-based sector needs
to be economically strong so that part of the wealth generated can be
used for forest conservation and other activities such as waste-water
treatment. On the other hand, in the forest-based sector we need
environmental (vitality of forests) and social sustainability in order
to be able to ensure the economic viability of the sector in the long
run.
Competitiveness and sustainability are not exclusive of each other. One
of the most interesting phases will follow after EFORWOOD, when the
products of the forest-based sector can be compared with the
alternative products in construction and packaging as well as other
branches.
In the first phase of the project, the forest-based sector is described
as a chain of production processes. The chain starts from planting
trees, managing and using the forest (including recreational use),
felling trees and transporting timber. It continues with various phases
in manufacturing wood and fibre products, further refining and
consumption, and ends with recycling of wood based materials. In the
second phase, each process is linked to sustainability indicators
representing the three pillars of sustainability. Examples of the
economic indicators are the costs of and the value added to the units
produced in the process. Social sustainability is assessed by examining
amongst others the recreational potential of the forests and by the
impacts of employment, including that of female and youth employment.
The environmental sustainability indicators include the impact of
forestry activities on biodiversity, energy consumption, carbon balance
and pollution produced in various manufacturing processes.
Currently, the European forest-based sector employs close to four
million people, there are 16 million family forest owners, and the
share of the sector’s production value is 8% of that of the
European Union. Through this research, the forest-based sector will be
in the front line in identifying means by which the strategic and
political decisions on sustainable development currently being
discussed all around Europe can be put into practice.
For further information:
www.eforwood.com
kaj.rosen@skogforsk.se
risto.paivinen@efi.int
denis.mcgowan@innovawood.com
What is EFORWOOD?
• FP6 Integrated project 2005–2009
• Objective: Develop a tool for Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) for Forest Wood Chains in Europe
• Budget: 20 million euro, 13 million covered by FP6
• Consortium: 38 Partners in 21 countries
• Coordinator: Skogforsk, Sweden
• Consist of six modules: Sustainability Impact Assessment, Forest
Resources Management, Forest to Industry, Processing and Manufacturing,
Industry to Consumer and Knowledge Transfer
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