Forestry

©FAO Luis Tato

Forest products and services

News

24/12/2025
After a sharp decline in 2023, the global forest products sector saw signs of stabilization in 2024.
05/11/2025
Amid deforestation, women are planting new roots, taking the climate into their own hands.
23/07/2025
Experts from FAO and partners have successfully pioneered new methods for estimating wood fuel removals and wood charcoal production.

Publications

2009

The significance of planted forests and recognition of their contributions to a range of development goals are anticipated to increase in coming decades. Planted forests provide not only wood, fibre and fuel, but also other non-wood forest products. Moreover, they sequester carbon, rehabilitate degraded lands, help in restoring landscapes, protect watersheds and agricultural soils, and provide recreational areas and amenities.

2006

Planted forests have an important role to play in providing a wide range of goods and services. Wood products have advantages over competing products made of other materials (cement, plastics and metal) in that wood is renewable, energy efficient and environmentally friendly if managed responsibly.

Videos

Communicating forestry innovation at FAO
24/10/2025

From fibre to packaging, building materials & even waterproof sinks - innovation in forestry has been on show in Rome, at the From Seeds to Food...

International Day of Forests 2024: New solutions for a better world
21/03/2024

Innovation is unlocking the forests’ long-kept secrets and allowing us to use trees in ways we never imagined possible.

Sustainable wood: The manifesto
06/12/2022

Over the centuries, we’ve moved away from using wood as a building material, at great cost to the planet.

Sustainable wood: Climate-friendly cities
01/12/2022

Find more videos on the FAO Forestry YouTube playlist

Sustainable wood: Housing a growing population
27/10/2022

A growing population means more buildings to fit everyone. By 2030, we will have to house an additional 3 billion people. Using wood from sustainably...

Sustainable Wood: Building the future
13/10/2022

Wood can be a material of the future, helping to build a bio-economy for the planet's health and economic recovery. Durable “cross-laminated timber”...

Forests and sustainable production and consumption
21/04/2022

For millions of people across the world, wood helps provide safe drinking water, food and shelter - but wood can do much more and is a renewable resource...

Is your toothbrush made of plastic or wood?
21/03/2022

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...

Sustainable forests: a powerful ally against climate change
24/02/2021

Climate change is subjecting our planet to unsustainable pressures. Forests and trees trap and store carbon as they grow – standing at the frontline...