Global Forest Sector: Global Advisory Body Recognizes the Potential of the Forest Sector to Drive Bioeconomy, Address our Changing Climate
Trees and the products they provide can help drive the bioeconomy and a resilient economic recovery while addressing the challenges of our changing climate. This is according to the global forestry advisory body to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) that released a statement showcasing the potential of forests to help advance international development targets.
In its statement, the Advisory Committee of Sustainable Forest-based Industries (ACSFI) detailed the valuable contributions that a bolstered forest-based bioeconomy can provide to achieving key United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by harnessing forestry to advance circular systems of production, utilization, and consumption that tackle our changing climate, advance rural development, promote more sustainable cities, and foster healthy and safe working environments around the world.
“Our sector is offering innovative wood-based solutions, environmental credentials, and a skilled workforce to tackle climate concerns and reach international ambitions,” said Derek Nighbor, President of the International Council of Forest and Paper Associations (ICFPA). Nighbor is also President and CEO of Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC). “ICFPA embraces the ACSFI’s call to action to use forests and their bioeconomy potential to implement practical solutions that lower our carbon footprint and address pressing social, environmental and economic challenges. Climate policies must recognize the carbon benefits of forest products, which are made from a renewable resource and manufactured in facilities that meet much of their energy demand through renewable, carbon neutral energy,” he added.
Because it plants, grows, harvests and replants trees, the global forest products sector is uniquely positioned to drive a lower-carbon and circular future rooted in renewable natural resources. This is through the carbon capturing benefits of sustainable forest management, the innovative use of wood in the built environment and wood fibre that expands carbon sequestration beyond the tree to everyday products.
The forest-based bioeconomy provides a sustainable pathway towards more clean technology innovation, green infrastructure, and job creation that will strengthen a more resilient and inclusive future for all.
To learn more about the potential of the global forest-based bioeconomy, read the full ACSFI statement here: https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cb7013en/
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The ICFPA serves as a forum of global dialogue, coordination and co-operation. Currently, the ICFPA represents 18 pulp, paper, wood and fibre-based associations that encompass 28 countries, including many of the top pulp, paper and wood producers around the world.
For more information, contact:
Kerry Patterson-Baker, Vice President, Communciations and Public Affairs
Communications Secretariat for ICFPA
e : kpatterson-baker@fpac.ca
t : 613-563-1441 ext. 314