VAXJO, Sweden, October 14, 2008 - If half the world's forests were run like Sweden's, the entire greenhouse effect could be eliminated- this is the finding of researchers at Sweden's largest forest owner and woodpulp producer, Södra (1).
A radical overhaul of global forestry along Swedish lines would see carbon locked in a growing reserve of timber rather than remaining in the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide, which is responsible for the greenhouse effect.
Göran Örlander, siviculture manager at Södra, explains: "The world's forests cover some four billion hectares. We could increase forest growth by more than 1% per year across half of this area (only half of the world's forests are suitable for management based on the Swedish model). To implement this, we would need to break the negative trends of deforestation, forest damage and poor forest management on a global basis, but we'd be rewarded with an increase in carbon uptake of almost two billion tonnes per year (2)."
Initially this would reduce the level by which emissions of carbon dioxide increase every year. But continuous forest growth of one percent in half the world's forest could halt the increases altogether, possibly within as little as 20 years.
The Swedish model does not entail a ban on felling trees - quite the opposite. Timber is Sweden's most valuable natural resource, and Swedish companies process millions of tonnes of it every year. But thanks to intelligent forestry, Sweden manages to increase the amount of timber in its forests year in year out, despite harvesting it constantly.
Notes:
1) Södra is Europe's largest, and the world's third largest, producer of woodpulp, which is mainly used to make paper, cardboard and tissue. http://www.sodra.com
2) Unfortunately the reality of forest management in the world is a far cry from the Swedish model. Every year, seven million hectares of forest are felled - the equivalent of one third of Sweden's forest resource. The situation is gravest in South-East Asia, which has lost almost one per cent of its forest every year during the past couple of decades.
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