WWF's Living Forest Report: Chapter 4 - Forests and Wood Products

WWF’s Living Forests Report is part of an ongoing conversation with partners, policymakers, and business about how to protect, conserve, sustainably use, and govern the world’s forests in the 21st century.

Chapter Four of WWF's Living Planet Report examines current and future demand for wood products and how this can best be met. We explore:

• Many values and uses of wood and its footprint relative to alternative materials
  (pages 2-7)
• Current and future demand for wood products (pages 8-17)
• Relationship between wood production and the conservation of other forest values (pages 19-21)
• Various options for producing wood (pages 22-31)
• Broad solutions that will enable humanity to optimize the use and benefits of wood without diminishing the natural capital in the world’s forests

While this chapter focuses on wood as the major commodity extracted from forests, it is important to note that forests also produce non-timber forest products (NTFPs). The global value NTFPs is hard to assess but was estimated at US$18.5 billion in 2005. The economic, cultural and ecological value of NTFPs makes them an important component of sustainable forest management and the conservation of biological and cultural diversity.