FAO's contribution to promote and monitor the global sustainable and circular wood-based bioeconomy
As the specialized UN organization for food, agriculture, fishery, forestry and wood products since 1945, FAO received a mandate to coordinate international work on a sustainable bioeconomy from 62 Ministers at the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture meeting in Berlin in 2015.
 ©FAO/Mar Ramos Sanz
As a follow-up action, FAO has been coordinating an international working group on sustainable bioeconomy, formed by 13 countries, focused on the development of guidelines on sustainable bioeconomy, funded by the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
This work was completed by a specific work programme on forest-based bioeconomy led by FAO Forestry Division, in the framework of the Sustainable Wood for a Sustainable World Initiative (SW4SW).
One of the aims of this programme of work deals with strengthening sustainable wood products contributions to the bioeconomy and circularity approach in both developed and developing countries through improved awareness and knowledge.
To highlight this work, FAO organized a workshop on wood products in the sustainable bioeconomy, in Rome on 10&11 December 2019:
Workshop final report and presentations:
FAO also organized three regional and subregional SW4SW dialogues in 2019, in Douala (Cameroon), Johannesburg (South-Africa) and Nanning (China): Partnership and dialogue between FAO and forest industries is organized through the Advisory Committee on Sustainable Forest-based Industries (ACSFI). This statutory body is composed of senior executives from the private industry sector worldwide. It meets yearly with the main objective of providing guidance on the activities and programmes of the FAO Forestry Department on issues relevant to the paper and forest products industry, in support of member countries’ efforts to progress towards sustainable development. The membership of FAO-ACSFI includes heads of forest industry and forest growers’ associations, as well as company executives from approximately 20 countries.
The ACSFI regularly organizes thematic webinars on forest-based industries, such as on “Fostering sustainable wood use in the building sector for greener cities: Lessons-learned from wood encouragement policies” or “The climate change mitigation potential of wood products”: Furthermore, background studies related to the forest-based bioeconomy have been issued, including: Facts and figures on the wood-based bioeconomy FAO estimates that: - At the global level, the (formal) forest sector employed 13.2 million people, generated USD 606 billion in value-added and exported products with a total value of USD 421 billion in 2011 (FAO, 2014).
In terms of main global trends during 2000-2011 period, employment in the sector decreased by about 6% but value-added and the value of forest products exports respectively increased by 3% and 10% (in real terms). Overall, the forest sector grew slower than other sectors in employment, value-added and trade, though there are strong differences between regions and subregions in the world. - Global wood consumption at 3,966 million m3 in 2019 (FAOSTAT, 2020).
51% of this amount (2,021 million m3) was used as industrial roundwood in first use and 49% (1 945 million m3) as wood fuel in first and only use. In order to build a sustainable and circular wood-based bioeconomy, a major challenge will involve developing many possible uses and re-uses of wood as a material, before burning it. - Global sawnwood production reached 488 million m3 in 2019 as planks, sleepers, beams, joists, boards, rafters, scantlings, laths, boxboards, and lumber (FAOSTAT, 2020), …
- Global wood-based panel production reached 357 million m3 in 2019 as plywood (including block-board, laminated veneer lumber, cross-laminated timber), particle board, oriented strand board, fibre-board (hardboard, medium/high density fibreboard, other fibreboard) (FAOSTAT, 2020), …
- Wood processed into pulp, mixed or not with recovered paper, becomes paper and paperboard products, production reached 404 million tonnes in 2019 as graphic papers (newsprint, printing and writing paper), packaging paper and paperboard, household and sanitary paper (FAOSTAT, 2020), …
- 56% of global paper consumption was recovered in 2019 for recycling by pulp and paper industries (FAOSTAT, 2020).
Major wood products: producer and consumer countries Major wood products: export and import countries Wood fuel removals amounted to an estimated 1,945 million m3 in 2019. It must be stressed that it is still very important in Asia-Pacific (37% of global production) and in Africa (36%). In Africa, 90% of roundwood removals in 2019 were directly used as wood fuel (FAOSTAT, 2020). More detailed information at country level is available in the FAO Yearbook of Forest Products and FAOSTAT:
The FAO Yearbook of Forest Products is a compilation of statistical data on basic forest products for all countries and territories of the world. It contains series of annual data on the volume of production and the volume and value of trade in forest products since 1947. It includes tables showing the direction of trade and average unit values of trade for certain products. Statistical information in the yearbook is based primarily on data provided to the FAO Forestry Division by countries through questionnaires or official publications. In the absence of official data, FAO makes an estimate based on the best infor-mation available. Global statistical accuracy through harmonized data: “Forest product conversion factors”
Because of the great diversity between units in common use for the measurement of forest products, FAO, International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) regularly update and use conversion factors for their reporting and analysis of trade and production data on forest products. |
