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International Paper Sponsored Series

Understanding Sustainable Forestry

Deforestation and the Role of Paper Products

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At the same time, paper comes from tree fibers, either from the growing forests or recovered paper. Global deforestation and forest degradation are problems of a global scale, but before addressing the extent to which the insatiable use of paper and the industry behind it is responsible, here's a little context as to the state of the world’s forests.




I spoke to Nigel Sizer of the World Resources Institute (WRI), and asked him if he could rank the number one threat to global forestry and, without pause, he replied, "The answer to that is very simple. By far the most significant threat to forests is the expansion of agriculture and agricultural commodities," adding, "the expansion of soy and pasture land, palm oil production and other agricultural activities accounts for probably about 80 percent of tropical deforestation." The paper and pulp industry is a part of that picture too, but Sizer says this is only a small part and very localized, mainly to parts of Indonesia.

But it is not just clear-cutting forests for agriculture that we need to be concerned about. Tropical forests are also subject to selective logging - where specific types of trees are harvested to make products such as plywood, particle board and other solid wood products. This practice doesn't clear forests completely, but as WRI's Sizer explained to me, "It's like a sponge - you poke holes in the canopy and it [the forest] dries out more quickly - and that makes it more prone to fire," a major problem in an ecosystem not naturally fire-prone, and not at all adapted to it. When fire does occur in tropical regions, that land is often lost to forestry and is re-purposed as agricultural land. Sizer adds, "There is a complex interplay between the logging industry and agriculture. Often the same company might be doing both; logging first, then using cash to invest in clearing the remainder for agriculture."

As devastating as this is for the forests themselves, Sizer told me that there is a very real threat that a condition called "Amazon die-back" could occur - a situation where forest degradation leading to moisture loss, in turn causes changes to weather patterns through a series of positive feedbacks. The impact is felt in the forests, but the effects are felt further afield, too. The fear is that a chain reaction could be triggered causing weather pattern changes across the whole of South and possibly even North America, if not globally.

But forest loss is not inevitable. Sizer told me, "Brazil has seen an 80 percent drop in deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon since 2004." He added, "That's an extraordinary achievement." Furthermore, the Brazilian government is intent on bringing that down to zero and shifting to a net re-greening of the country's Amazon region going forward.



WRI's "Southern Forests for the Future" website identifies that the biggest threat to U.S. forests is suburban encroachment. The U.S. forest service estimates that between 1992 and 2040, 31 million acres of forest land will be lost to development.

But the impact of the paper industry cannot be ignored, especially when today, the southern United States forests are home to the world's single largest pulp and paper production region in the world.


But though that is a huge proportion, Sizer told me, "Most of the pulp and paper in the world comes from plantation-grown wood - fast growing wood with harvesting cycles ranging between five and 20 years," adding, "These are fast growing and well-managed plantations that are on land which was cleared of forest a long, long time ago." The point being, a large wood harvest doesn't necessarily mean further decimation of existing natural forests. But is this the case?

In the U.S., the Dogwood Alliance, an organization focused on protecting southern U.S. forests, has spent the last 15 years putting relentless pressure on the paper industry (and downstream, on the paper-consuming industries) by way of using, in their words, "A combination of grassroots pressure and skillful negotiations to reach corporate boardrooms in a way that makes a difference on the landscape." In one of their reports, they identify that 5-6 million acres of U.S. southern forests are cut down each year to make paper and wood products, and they have clearly placed the paper industry in their crosshairs as being a major threat.




As of April this year, Dogwood Alliance had entered into dialogue with several major paper companies "to map endangered forests and forests with high conservation value, to discourage the future conversion of natural hardwood forests to pine plantations, to expand FSC certification in the U.S. and globally, and to fund restoration and conservation of key forests in the South." Dogwood Alliance focuses on the paper and biomass industries as key players in the deforestation debate, while other NGOs like WRI see other issues (like development) as more pressing.

At the end of the day, the paper industry need not be a cause of natural forest degradation, or deforestation, and through proper management with independently certified forestry standards, such as FSC and SFI, the supply of paper, fundamental to humankind's development over the years - can remain so responsibly into the future.

Image Credit: Nicholas A. Tonelli


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