Timber's Renaissance

TiC hears how certified timber products are becoming key to the construction industry's agenda, once again.

THE argument for increased use of independently certified timber in the modern construction industry is undeniable. Its unique combination of performance and environmental profile allows the construction industry to meet its targets for affordable, efficient and low carbon projects.

The performance of timber is outstanding. Its structural and decorative capabilities are already well known; it is suitable and adaptable for all sorts of construction, from skirting boards to bridges.

The signs of a rapid resurgence in the use and preference for timber products are everywhere: timber frame houses, timber windows, wooden cladding and even hardwood flooring.

A cleaner, greener building material
Of course there are many factors driving each of these products’ surge in demand. Hardwood flooring, for instance, is deemed to be the evolution of the laminate market, which is seen as responsible for boosting the demand for modern and low maintenance surfaces of the last few years.

In my opinion, there are two central messages for using timber. The first is that unlike any other construction material, timber is truly renewable. The second is that contrary to popular belief, buying certified timber helps to save forests.

The first one is pretty self explanatory; after all, unlike concrete or steel timber grows on trees. The other great thing about timber is that while it grows, it also releases oxygen and absorbs carbon from the atmosphere. So as long as timber is not burned, it can act as a very good carbon sink, and as a practical way to combat the ever-present threat of global warming.

I am not a scientist, but I have observed how this simple fact has led to a great new practice of planting trees, either directly or indirectly. This is by both companies wishing to offset their carbon footprint and by individuals offering to plant trees to offset activities such as flying.

Before considering how buying timber saves forests, it is important to discuss the role of forest certification. If forestry practices can be sustainable, the availability of timber as a renewable construction material can be virtually inexhaustible.

This continuity of supply means that as long as we can guarantee forests are being used in a sensible way, respecting their own capacity and growth rhythm, we won’t ever run out of this natural and fantastically versatile raw material. And we may even be helping to cool down our climate while doing so.

Independent certification of timber is the best way to ensure forest sources are being managed responsibly. Some certification schemes, such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) take certification a step further to take into account social sustainability, or the impact of forestry practices on local communities.

Thanks to straightforward and robust methodologies such as chain of custody certificates, it is increasingly easy to find and check if timber products are indeed from certified sources. This can even be verified online.

Forests under siege
To understand how the purchase of certified timbers can help to save endangered forests, we must first start by acknowledging that forests are indeed under threat. This is particularly true to forests on the tropical belt, where areas are usually huge, with forests representing large proportions of a country’s territory, infrastructure relatively poor and economies still in development. Unfortunately, these factors give favourable conditions for corruption.

In such areas, like Brazil, where I come from, it is difficult to decline or even monitor local peoples’ requirements for better roads, commerce and general standard of living. Their impact on the surrounding forest can sometimes be harmful, but only to a relatively small degree. I have found, however, that the greatest threat to tropical forests comes from very large landowners, or “grabbers”. These people can turn forest into extensive farming or pasture land in a very efficient way.

Soya and palm oil producers create vast empires by burning entire forests in their constant race for larger and more productive land tracts. There is plenty of evidence to support this on Greenpeace’s website. These practices are far more destructive than logging. Try asking local people or loggers, even the illegal ones, to burn their local forest.

The impact of “conventional loggers”, however, is also negative. This is especially the case if these people are forced to go deeper and deeper into the forest to “cherry pick” specific species such as Mahogany. That is why I would urge specifiers to focus on the performance and sizes required, rather than on the name of a certain timber species. With this information, I would then be able to recommend a range of suitable lesser-known species. This recommendation would include technical details, samples and pictures of other projects.

Specification practices such as these will help us distribute the commercial pressure more evenly on available stocks of certified species, which change every year depending on the area of forest being sustainably harvested, while also offering lower project risk. They usually result in a better price too.

I have found the only way to protect standing forests from the destructive interests of extensive farming and pasture industries is to make money from it. But that must be done sustainably, by respecting both the forest’s growth rhythm and its people. That’s where independent certification schemes such as the FSC come in.

While revenues from sale of certified timbers keep soya barons at bay, the FSC system provides forests with a workable business model that guarantees long-term environmental sustainability, or protection from over-logging. The certification also guarantees social sustainability as it protects local people from being exploited or expelled from the land.

The argument for certified timber is simple. By supporting sustainable forest operations we can ensure rare forests’ longterm existence and also our own long-term supply of a great construction resource.

So, contrary to popular belief, the best way to save forests is to buy their timber products, as long as they come from independently certified operators.