Economic Uses of Forests

A few examples from a wide variety of uses of timber that touch our lives.
© WWF

Timber: Uses of timber

Items made out of wood touch our lives in more ways than we can imagine. Thousands of consumer products are directly made from wood. Some of these are obvious, like building material, furniture and paper. Some are not so, like tyres, glass frames and photographic film.

Picture Frames of mainly Ramin timber on sale in a Bandung Market Street.
© WWF-Canon / Stephen J. FLEAY

Timber goes into the making of textiles, tyres, lenses, toothbrushes, diapers, sanitary napkins, newsprint, packaging material, paper products, food thickeners, tissues. Building material like frames, flooring, cabinets, panelling, boats, gunstocks and more all use wood. Sheds, barns, docks are usually made of wood, too.

Local shop selling Thuya wood artifacts. Essaouira, Morocco
© WWF-Canon / Michel GUNTHER

The question arises, if the use of timber is fast dwindling forests, why continue using it? Why not look for alternatives? There are a number of factors to be considered while using wood. In environmental terms, there are both positives and negatives in using wood-based material.

A display of some of the furniture and other final uses of certified eucalyptus timber. Brazil
© WWF-Canon / Edward PARKER

The good thing is, timber is a natural product and can be used with minimum processing. It occurs almost worldwide, and is essentially a renewable and recyclable resource. Because of its natural origins, most types of wood are fairly durable. Timber has a high strength to weight ratio that allows for efficient transportation.

...but exploited beyond sustainable limits

On the negative side, the high demand for timber products encourages illegal logging, even though some timber trade around the world comes from certified, well-managed sources.

Transporting of timber also adds to greenhouse gas emissions, especially for exotic species that are particularly in demand in places far away from where they grow. Of course, one way to curb this is to encourage use of locally available species.

Also, processing of timber can have undesirable effects on the environment. Dust emissions result from the sawing and sanding of wood-based products. Sometimes chemicals used the treatment of wood may be toxic. Treated timber also raises issues during recycling and disposal. Even so, the processing of other everyday materials such as plastics and aluminium are far more damaging.