Looking After The  Environment

Fethers Veneer understands the importance of environmentally sound business practices. We live in a world where consumers often wish to evaluate the environmental implications of their purchasing decisions. Specifically in the timber industry, the key question when choosing a timber species and source is whether the material in question is from a sustainable managed forest. With our vast range of veneer options we now also offer a practical and verifiable assessment of the sustainability of each of the veneer species we offer.

Sustainable Forest Management

The Chain of Custody 

Forstry In Australia

Forstry In Europe 

Forstry in North America 

Forestry in Africa Asia and South America 

Global Warming and Greenhouse Gases 

FGGAS - Fethers Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme

Sustainable  Forest Management

A widely recognized definition of sustainable forest management is “the stewardship" and use of forests and forest land in a way and at a rate, that maintains their biodiversity, productivity, regeneration capacity, vitality and their potential to fulfill, now and in the future, relevant ecological, economic, and social functions, at local, national, and global levels and does not cause damage to other ecosystemsForest  CertificationConsumers in growing numbers are seeking evidence to support suppliers’ claims that their timber is from sustainably managed forests. The only way to provide credible proof is through independently checking. Therefore someone who is independent qualified and impartial - a certifier - needs to check that the forests are managed on the ground according to a series of collectively agreed performance standards for sustainability. This is called forest certification.

  top

The Chain of Custody

A certifier has to check that enterprises in the supply chain have “wood accounting” systems in place so that wood from a certified forest can be traced from harvested tree through to finished product. In this manner the end user can be satisfied that the timber in question is without doubt from the sustainable managed source claimed by the supplier. 

Forestry in Australia
Australia’s Forest industry is open and visible, and has been under very close scrutiny for many years. Recently, such examination has included the most comprehensive independent study-ever: the Resource Assessment Commission (RAC) “Forest and Timber Inquiry” (1992). Governments have also examined forests and forest industries in the Ecological Sustainable Development Forest Report (1991), and the National Plantation Advisory Committee Report (1991).

The National Forest Policy Statement signed in 1992 is the joint response of the federal government and the state and territory governments to the three major reports on forest issues. The Commonwealth Government and State Governments in Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia, New South Wales and Queensland have entered into a number of Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) between 1997 and 2001 that provide a framework for forest management and the implementation of the National Forest Policy Statement.

RFAs apply for up to 20 years and have three main objectives:

·  to protect environmental values in a Comprehensive,
   Adequate and Representative (CAR) Reserve System
   based on nationally agreed criteria;

·  to encourage job creation and growth in forest-based

   industries; and

·  manage all native forests in an ecologically sustainable
    way.

Members of forest industries accept they have an important responsibility to the community - to provide scientifically based, factual information, which enables people to make balanced judgments.

Australia has 155 million hectares of native forests, including 43.8 million hectares of closed forest and open forest. Some 22.3 million hectares of closed and open forest is either privately owned or leasehold while the balance is multiple use forest (11.0 million hectares), conservation reserves (8.4 million hectares) or other categories of public ownership (2.1 million hectares) (BRS 1998).

The multiple use forests are managed for wood production and less than 1% of these forests are harvested in any one-year. This small proportion is regenerated following harvesting so that a perpetual supply of native hardwood and softwood is available. The forests in conservation reserves are permanently reserved from logging.

The supply of timber from Australia’s 1.3 million hectares of plantations is expected to rapidly increase over the next decade, making Australia one of perhaps four or five countries in the Pacific Rim region that has the potential to increase sustained harvest levels in the future. Emerging shortfalls in the world supply of timber are expected to provide Australian producers with attractive import replacement and export opportunities.

It is widely recognized that the community needs timber, paper, tissue, cardboard, furniture and many other products derived from wood. Major Australian industries have developed to grow and process timber to supply these goods.

The Federal Government’s wood and paper industry strategy (Forest Taskforce 1995) includes an estimate that around 82,500 people work in forest, logging and forest products industries. The forest products industries as a group are Australia’s second largest manufacturing industry and a major regional employer. The nature of Australia’s climate, terrain and forests means that harvesting and regeneration of forests have a lower environmental impact than in many other countries. Most Australian states limit harvesting to sustainable levels and, while existing forest management practices can be refined, Australian practices are setting international benchmarks in excellence.

Today, governments and industry manage the harvesting cycle as closely to the forest’s natural disturbance patterns as possible. Modern forestry practices have evolved by continually learning from science and experience. This is called adaptive management. Logging is supervised by government forest management agencies to control short-term damage and to protect a wide range of forest values, which include water catchments, flora and fauna, soil and landscape.

Australia’s managed forests provide increasing wealth for the community - not just in terms of wood products, but also by reducing the trade deficit. A secure supply of wood from native forests, complemented with plantation supplies can achieve this goal.

Australia imports about one-third of its forest products - $3.8 billion worth in 2000/01 (ABARE, 2001). The forest industries are working to reduce this figure by adding value to our wood and making high quality pulp and paper in Australia.

The forest industries can meet their obligations to the community and to the environment by adhering to the principles of ecologically sustainable development. The compelling evidence from all recent government inquiries shows that it would be irresponsible to prevent disturbance in all native forests.

Wood harvesting can be part of a managed disturbance process. What is required is a balance of properly managed commercial forests and preserved areas.

For more information please visit www.nafi.com.au

Forestry in Europe

Europe has a total of 130 million hectares of woods used for forestry purposes. This almost equals the entire national areas of France, Germany and Spain. Even though the percentage of land covered by forests varies from country to country, more than one third of the area of the European Union is covered with forests.       

Two thirds of this green treasure is privately owned forest property. All in all a total of 12 million families manage their own forests from Northern Lapland to the southernmost parts of Spain and Greece. For most of them the forest forms the basis of their livelihood.  In contrast to South America or the tropical regions, in Europe the responsibility for the forests is divided up amongst many small to medium-sized family forest holdings. Most family owned forests are hardly larger than 5 hectares. This complex picture is completed by many medium sized forestry enterprises.

The great diversity in European forests can be seen in the climatic conditions alone. Nature’s multi-colored picture ranges from the Arctic coniferous and Birch forests of the North to the Deciduous and Alpine forests of Central Europe and the Cork Oaks and Pine trees of the South.

Along with the many small-scale forestry holdings, the woods in Europe form an impressionist work of art. This green mosaic is not the result of stereotype standard solutions, but rather of know-how, tradition, and individual decisions. The strict forestry laws in the European countries along with agreements practiced over the generations have constituted a common framework for centuries.

Today’s modern concept of “sustainability” has been developed by the European forestry sector. European family forestry holdings have always thought in terms of generations.

Total annual growth in the European Union is 392 million m³, of which only 273 million m³ is used. If, therefore, the amount of unused additional wood grown in Europe was cut up into cubes of 1m³, these cubes, when lined up, would go around the world three times.

The amount of wood being harvested is clearly less than the amount being grown. In addition, Europe’s wooded areas have been expanded for years at a rate of approximately 60000 hectares per year.

However, the tradition of sustainability does not merely refer to the quantity of wood. European family forestry attributes great importance to the care of biotopes, to social and cultural factors. The criteria of the Pan-European Process on the protection of forests in Europe have long since been the ground rules for European family forest owners:

·     Maintenance and appropriate enhancement of forest resources and their contribution to global carbon cycles

·     Maintenance of forest ecosystem health and vitality

·     Maintenance and encouragement of productive forest functions (wood and non-wood)

·     Maintenance, conservation and appropriate enhancement of biological diversity in forest ecosystems

·     Maintenance and appropriate enhancement of protective functions in forest management (notably soil and water)

·     Maintenance of other socio-economic functions and condition.

For more information please visit www.cepf-eu.org

  top

Forestry in North America

Over the last 50 years, the inventory of hardwoods standing in U.S. forests increased by over 90% as harvesting levels remained well below the level of growth. The U.S. hardwood inventory now stands at around 10,000 million m3 and is growing at a rate of over 200 million m3 per year (before harvesting).

American hardwoods derive from managed natural forests, which have high natural bio-diversity, provide a habitat for a wide range of species, and are very resilient to fire and pests. The 2000 Renewable Planning Act (RPA) Assessment, a nationwide forest inventory mandated under U.S. federal law to be undertaken every 10 years, indicates that overall hardwood forests are getting older in the United States and that this maturation is leading to increased eco-system diversity.

Fertile forest soils and favourable growing conditions in the U.S. mean that hardwood forests are most effectively renewed through natural regeneration. Selection harvesting, involving the removal of specified individuals or small groups of trees, is typical in American hardwood forests which offer a greater diversity of timber species than any other temperate hardwood forest resource. At a time when there is a trend towards relatively uniform plantation woods in many parts of the world, American hardwoods continue to offer all the variety and decorative advantages of natural forest woods.

Over the last 50 years, throughout the U.S. there has been a 39% increase in the amount of wood and paper products produced per cubic foot of wood input. The application of a set of internationally recognised grading rules, established more than 100 years ago by the National Hardwood Lumber Association (NHLA), has made a major contribution to waste-minimisation in the American hardwood lumber sector.

The U.S. operates an effective and enforced regulatory framework to deliver sustainable forest management. The U.S. approach to forest regulation is adapted to a national forest environment with a large private industry sector, a very long history of private forest management, and a strong civil society.

Around 73% of hardwood forest families whose ownership stretches back several generations, privately own land in the eastern States. There are approximately 4 million private forest owners with an average lot size of 50 acres. The hardwood processing industry owns only 11% of the eastern U.S. hardwood resource, with the balance of 16% owned by Federal and State Governments.

All forest owners in the United States are subject to Federal legislation designed to protect habitats for threatened species. Regulations affecting other aspects of forest management on private land are the responsibility of individual states. The 2000 RPA Assessment reports that these regulations have been increasing overall. Some 44 States now have best management practice legislation intended to promote better management of lands.

For more information please visit www.sustainablehardwoods.info

  top

Forestry in Africa,  Asia and South America

There are sustainable managed forests in Africa, Asia and South America, but there are also plenty of examples of forestry practices that are resulting in the destruction of vast areas of tropical rain forest.

Ideally we would like to source our material from sustainable sources only but it is not possible at this stage to be sure exactly what the status of any given resource in these regions is. There are some certified forests and in the future we aim to be able to provide certified material.

For now, however, the only truthful and practical comment to be made about the veneer we stock from these parts of the world is that we can not be sure whether the material is from a sustainable resource or not. 

Global Warming and Greenhouse Gases

In addition to the sustainability of a given timber resource and the resulting ramifications for biodiversity, water quality and overall impact on ecosystems, there is the question of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The link between global warming and GHG levels in the atmosphere is well accepted in the scientific community today. Trees play a vital role in lowering GHG levels in the atmosphere through carbon sequestration. The clearing of forests and subsequent use of the land for agriculture leads to an increse in GHG levels. A well managed sustainable forest where mature trees are utilised as timber and young trees are allowed to mature will lead to a reduction in GHG levels. To go ahead and turn cleared land back into forest in the form of a plantation has an even more profound effect on carbon sequestration rates and plantations are often referred to as carbon sinks.

The Fethers Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme

Fethers Veneer is involved with a plantation development near Woodend in the Macedon Ranges of Central Victoria.

We will be able to directly attribute the planting of specific trees to the supply of veneer into Architectural projects. For every log of veneer specified and supplied into an architectural project, we will effectively plant two trees. This will ensure that the veneer component of the fitout is at least greenhouse gas neutral.

This is a first for the veneer industry in Australia.

Please contact us for more information.  

top