Driving awareness of how wood is nature’s sustainable solution is vital for people and the planet. The choice of sustainable wood products over non-renewables like concrete, steel, plastics and synthetic fibres is the healthy choice for nature and the environment. Wood, which stores carbon for its lifetime, mitigates against the effects of climate change. Sustainable wood nurtures nature.
The Grow the Solution campaign offers multimedia assets in various languages to amplify the message of using sustainable wood to combat the climate emergency and ensure a greener, sustainable future for all.
In 2018, the construction sector alone was responsible for an estimated 40 percent of energy - and process - related greenhouse gas emissions. Using more wood in the sector is a cost-effective way to roll back that percentage.
Wood-based products can replace those made from fossil fuels, making forests and trees even more significant contributors to the bioeconomy. Packaging, biofuels, construction materials and even microprocessors can now be made from wood.
In the early 1990s, the industry introduced a forest product capable of replacing concrete and steel in certain building applications: cross-laminated timber (CLT). With its crisscrossing layers of sawnwood glued together, CLT panels proved strong and stable enough for office buildings and even skyscrapers. But it was not until a decade ago, as more and more countries embraced the technology, that CLT became an internationally traded product.
(Reference: FAO. 2023. Sustainability by numbers - Forest products at FAO.. Rome.)
By 2030, we will have to house an additional 3 billion people. Using wood from sustainable forests means we can create homes that don’t cost the Earth.
Built with wood, cities could become extensions of our forests, helping to combat climate change and keep the planet healthy. Wood is renewable and stores carbon for its lifetime.
Wood can be a material of the future, helping to build a bioeconomy for the planet's health, replacing concrete and steel in building construction and helping to build carbon-neutral homes, offices and schools.
Materials derived from trees are being developed as sustainable substitutes for plastics, building materials, fabrics, medicines and other everyday items.
Wood helps provide safe drinking water, food and shelter - but wood can do much more and is a renewable resource when forests are managed sustainably.
Replacing more of the plastic things we use every day with wood-based products from sustainably managed forests can help combat climate change and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Choose sustainable wood for people and the planet.
Grow the Solution is the work of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests Communicators’ Network Joint Initiative.
Led by FAO, the project 'Strengthening global advocacy and awareness on the role of sustainable wood value chains and their contribution to SDG12 through the work of the Joint initiative of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) Communicators’ Network' was funded by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism of the Federal Republic of Austria, with support from the Regional Forest Communicators Networks.
These messages are aligned with the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 12 (Responsible consumption and production) and the objectives of the United Nations Decade for Ecosystem Restoration.
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