Wood Production, Wood Technology, and Biotechnological ... - GWDG

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H. Spellmann & I. Kehr
deforestation seems to slow down lately. Nevertheless, the net annual loss of 7.3
million hectares in the period 2000-2005 is still considerable (FAO 2005b). The
major net losses occurred in South America and Africa, where the forest area
decreased by 4.3 and 4.0 million hectares per year, respectively, whereas Asia
developed to a region with a net gain of one million hectares per year in the same
period (FAO 2005c, further information in Chapter 4 of this book).
In 1996, the world-wide total wood supply run up to 3.35 billion m 3, of which
1.62 billion m 3 had been felled in the tropics. Four fifth of the tropical fellings had
been used as firewood. From the remaining 1/5 – or 290 million m 3 – only
70.9 million m 3 or 24% had been exported. Main importing countries were China,
Japan, and other Asian countries. In 2001, only about 1.84 million m 3 of timber
and timber products have been imported by Germany. However, the trend is
decreasing according to time progression (Dieter 2003).
Wood supply in Europe
The total forest area of Europe was just above 1 billion hectares in 2005, which is
slightly more than one quarter of the global forest area and 44% of the total land
area in Europe. More than 80% of Europe’s forests are growing in the Russian
Federation. Another 11% of forest area are located in Sweden, Finland, France,
Spain, Germany, and Turkey. About 85% of Europe’s forests are available for
wood supply (MCPFE & UNECE/FAO 2003). Between 2000 and 2005, the area
of Europe’s forest expanded by about 660,000 hectares per year, although at a
slower rate compared with the 1990s (FAO 2005c).
In Europe, the annual increment of forests and other wooded land amounts to
2,287 million m 3. The annual increment is at the highest level ever known and
exceeds by far the annual fellings of 627 million m 3 (over bark). The wood
utilisation rate (ratio of the annual fellings to the annual increment) is only 27%.
Most countries lie above this average (MCPFE & UNECE/FAO 2003; see
Fig. 1), which is mainly caused by the very low utilisation rate of the forests of the
Russian Federation, not even reaching 10%.
The total wood produced in Europe of logs, fuelwood and pulpwood averages
about 444 million m 3 annually over the last past years (MCPFE & UNECE/FAO
2003). This is 13% of the World’s total wood supply.
The European Timber Trend Study V (UNECE/FAO 1996) predicted for 18
Western European countries an increase in production of forest products as well
as in wood consumption, between 1990 and 2020. In spite of the risk of depletion
in some regions, Europe will be able to meet the challenge of increasing wood
demand without threatening the sustainability of its forests.