B. Wergens
Bo Wergens is Chairman of the Swedish Forest Industries Association, Chairman of the FAO Advisory Committee on Pulp and Paper and Vice-Chairman of the Confederation of European Paper Industry.
Forest industry products of all kinds contribute to satisfying some of the basic needs of modern society and to promoting human well-being in the world. Industrial production in the forestry sector, including fuelwood, represents about 2 percent of world economic activity - annually more than US$400 billion - and 3 percent of world trade in merchandise; with paper and board alone accounting for almost half of these totals.
Historically the increased use of paper for cultural, commercial, industrial and hygienic applications has been associated with economic growth and improved living standards. Developing countries have made significant progress in paper self-sufficiency, reducing imports from 30 percent of national needs in 1961 to 15 percent today. The recent FAO forecast of paper consumption to 2010 indicates an annual growth of about 6 percent in the developing countries.
A sustainable ecocycle system
It is my belief that forest-based industries will play a greater role in tomorrow's societies than is generally appreciated today. One good reason for this is that forestry and forest industry have the potential to become the first industrial system that can meet the need for food, raw materials and energy within sustainable systems as outlined at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
The basic elements in this ecocycle concept are sustainable forestry, renewable materials, recycling or energy recovery from used paper products, and the fact that the carbon dioxide released in the global system is absorbed by the growing trees, thus avoiding adding to the greenhouse effect. This ecocycle system with an emphasis on sustainable forestry and environmentally compatible forest industry will be fully achieved when the manufacture of forest products no longer causes any harmful emissions to water and air. In the advanced production processes now being installed, primarily in the developed countries, the closed mill concept, that envisages the elimination of even the very small emissions from modern mills, is already within reach.
Forest industry endorses UNCED's Forest Principles
The whole world has been under the spell of the 1992 Rio Conference, highlighting the message of sustainable development. It is one of the most urgent issues facing humankind. The forest industry communities have endorsed the forest principles that sustainable utilization and conservation of forest resources must be given equal priority, that economic development must be based on renewable and recyclable resources while avoiding environmental threats within a framework of sustainable systems. We can speak of a new movement among foresters and forest industry companies, who are prepared to apply in practice concepts of sustainable forestry combined with environmentally sound production processes.
The private sector is increasingly engaged in national and regional programmes for productive, sustainable forestry, maintenance of biological diversity, technical assistance, research and development, etc. Forest industry companies also are taking a realistic and pragmatic approach to new marketing conditions in response to environment-conscious consumer preferences, stressing, however, in this context, the necessity for a comprehensive, holistic overview, considering technical and economic aspects and established scientific facts.
Role of forest industry
The increase in populations and incomes will place pressure on demand for forest products and forest resources. As the demand for forest products is steadily growing and forest resources decreasing, the forest industry has a strong incentive to become actively engaged in implementing the UNCED principles. Through the FAO Advisory Committee on Pulp and Paper (with its balanced membership from developed and developing countries participating in a personal capacity) there is a well-established link between FAO and the private sector. With responsibility for the follow-up to UNCED, FAO would benefit from strengthening these contacts and capitalizing on the industry expertise and technical knowledge placed at its disposal. In many countries, forest industry and the private forest owners are responsible for the practical management of forests, including the conservation of biological diversity in those forests which are outside strict nature protection areas. The forest industry also has the opportunity to influence decisions with regard to regional and national forest-related pol-icies. Industry is, after all, the driving force in giving value added to forest land as well as providing employment.
Partnership with FAO
FAO and forest industry, having the UNCED implementation as a common cause, should agree on policies and initiate activities including:
