The Use of Forested Lands to Provide Major Forest Products. The so-called major forest products are those directly derived from wood. • • • • •
Round logs for pole production for structures and bridges. Round logs to be processed to produce sawn timber for buildings, furniture etc. Round logs for processing to produce veneer for construction and furniture manufacture. Round logs for wood chip production to make pulp and paper manufacture or conversion to other processed board products as particle board. Round logs for firewood and/or charcoal production.
In most areas of the World where rainforest is under some form of management, sawlog and veneer log production have been the forester’s primary aim. Tropical rainforest timbers show a very great range in qualities and characteristic, as would be expected from stands with such diverse botanical composition. Wood densities vary greatly e.g. a very heavy wood as kwila to a light wood as balsa. Similarly, colours range from black (e.g. ebony) through shades of red, brown, yellow, pink, purple to white. Varying degrees of durability, figure, strength, toughness and other working qualities can be found amongst rainforest species. With such variety present, species suitable for almost any timber use can be obtained from the rainforest, though the quantity of preferred species may be very small and often not worth extraction. The World’s major timber using industries developed in the conifer (softwood) regions of the Northern Hemisphere whereas in the tropical regions, the use of timber for purposes other than fuel was generally very late in developing. Hence, the utilisation of rainforest species has for centuries been concentrated upon the export of relatively few species with outstanding characteristics not found amongst temperate species. This includes species such as ebony, mahogany, cedars etc. These species have been primarily specialty cabinet woods. It is only in the last few decades that more general purpose species have been utilised on any scale from the tropical rainforests. This recent development has been sparked by a world wide shortage of such timbers, enabling tropical exports to compete with more traditional species on the World’s markets. At the same time, there has been a growing demand within the tropical rainforest countries themselves as living standards rise and as timber treatments ensure increased durability for the lighter and softer species. Globally in 2002, of the 3.4 billion cubic metres of wood produced: • • • •
Wood fuel was 53 % of total usage. Sawn wood was 23 % of total usage. Wood based panels as plywood, and other composite boards as particle board were 7 % of total usage. Pulp and paper products were 12 % of total usage. 9
