Trees provide us with more than 5,000 products that people use every day. From photographic film to paints and from toothpaste to tires, tree-based chemicals and other wood by-products are all around us. They provide shade, oxygen, fruit, nuts and wood products such as paper, furniture and housing etc. Benefits are well known, as we use trees in many forms during a day.
Certain examples are like when trees are used to make lumber and plywood, there are leftover chips, bark sawdust. The chips and sawdust are made into wood pulp for paper and other products. Not too long ago, those leftovers would have been burned as waste, however, with new technology coming in, Bark is used for
landscaping, and to generate electricity for paper and lumber mills. Modern forest products operations are very efficient at using every part of a tree. Nothing is wasted.
Trees which are made of tiny fibers and the natural glue that holds them together when wood is turned into pulp for paper, heat and chemicals dissolve the lignin and release the cellulose fibers. Byproducts of this process are used in asphalt, paint, chewing gum, detergents and turpentine.
Cellulose which comes from trees used for paper and much more is a major part of
melamine dinnerware, toilet seats, tool handles and cellophane. It is also used to
produce helmets, toothbrushes and electrical outlets. Also wood pulping products
are used for many different things, ranging from cleaning compounds, deodorants
and hair spray, to artificial vanilla flavoring, medicines and cosmetics.
Indian Wood Industry
India is very rich in its forest wealth having a huge land area under forests.
Fortunately, all varieties of forest growth are found in India, ranging from tropical
hardwood forests to high altitude coniferous forests and from deciduous to
evergreen forests and Plantation but unfortunately the forest resources in India is
depleting due to increase of population and other causes.
Sound principles of forest policy, administration, timber production and
conservation were introduced by an act of legislature in 1845, and ever since
Indian forests are being managed on scientific and progressive lines. Large areas
have abundance of some of the finest plywood timbers both for constructional and
decorative plywood, Indian teak, Indian Rosewood and Padauk are worldrenowned
for their beauty of figure, grain and texture.
Gurjan, Vellapine, Hollock and Hollong are only a few of the many Indian timbers
used for making good commercial plywoods. Such continuous depletion of the
natural forest resources of the country due to various consumption of solid wood,
it was felt to conserve the natural resource forest by reconstituted wood products
such as Plywood, Hardboard, Particleboard and Medium Density Fibreboard to
meet the rising demand of Wood from the general consumer, Railways, Defence,
Furniture, Laminate manufacturers and the builders. At the same time also it is
trying to meet the wood demand by Bamboo products which are alike to wood.
As per a report published by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion
Plywood, veneers of all types and other wood based products such as particle
board, medium density fibre have been delicensed, vide Department of Industrial
Policy & Promotion’s Press Note No.11 (1997Series) dated the 17th July,1997.
It also mentions that as Plywood forms the major segment of the wood-based
industry in the country, businessmen who wish to obtain approval from the
Government for setting up any wood based project should obtain prior clearance
from the Ministry of Environment & Forests before submitting the applications to
the Administrative Ministry/SIA and enclose a copy of the 'in principle' approval
given by the Ministry of Environment & Forests.
Also it states that as Per the Notification dated 22.1.2007 most of the wood items
have been dereserved, except wood furniture and fixtures. As per the current
Export & Import Policy, the principal raw material, viz., wood logs are freely
importable under OGL. The total production of Plywood during 2006-07 was
54,45,857 Sq. Mtrs. and production during 2007- 08 (up to December) was
43,38,998 Sq. Mtrs. The production of Particle Board during 2006-07 was
44,76,704 Sq. Mtrs. and production during 2006- 07(up to December) was
47,60,457 Sq. Mtrs. The export and import of plywood during 2006-07 was
Rs.126.25 crore and Rs.57.62 crore respectively. The export and import of Particle
Board during 2006-07 was Rs.18.86 crore and Rs.148.64 crore respectively.
UN’s Perspective
A new report issued by UN said that amid the global financial crisis and the
collapse of the housing sector are a big blow for wood industries, but this is not
necessarily good news for the world's forests. It highlights that new housing starts
in the United States had more than halved between 2006 and 2008. Several other
countries, particularly in Western Europe, have witnessed similar declines.
"Wood demand is unlikely to reach the peak of 2005-2006 again in the foreseeable
future," the FAO's (Food and Agriculture Organization)"State of the World's
Forests 2009" report said. It also mentions about the Scaling down of production
is widespread in almost all countries and all forest industries, from logging to
sawmilling to production of wood panels, pulp, paper and furniture. Countries that
are highly dependent on U.S. markets, such as Brazil and Canada, have already
been severely affected, adding wood fiber demand in North America alone was
expected to fall by more than 20 million tonnes this year.
Nevertheless, lower wood demand should be good news for the world's
disappearing forests, FAO said the economic crisis could reduce investment in
sustainable forest management and favor illegal logging. A more general concern
is that some governments may dilute previously ambitious green goals or defer key
policy decisions related to future climate change mitigation," the report mentions.
It said European Union measures to tackle climate change, particularly auctioning
emission allowances, were meeting some resistance, and the U.N.'s REDD scheme
aimed at using carbon credits to save rainforests could face similar problems.
Worldwide, the loss of forests was 7.3 million hectares (18.04 million acres) a year
between 2000 and 2005, equivalent to 200 square km per day, according to U.N.
data. Deforestation accounts for 20 percent of man-made carbon emissions.
Conclusion
However, amid the various reports and suggestions certain suggestions have come
up from the advisory committee on Paper and Wood products, which say that
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification is becoming a non trade barrier
for Indian paper companies. As bulk of the raw material is obtained from farm and
agro-forestry, the farmers (huge numbers, running into hundreds of thousands with
small holdings) find it practically impossible to form groups and obtain the FSC
certificate. Though the farm forestry is a sustainable model promoted by the paper
industry, the FSC principles and criterions are difficult to be satisfied for issuing
of certificate. In this connection, GOI is thinking to establish Indian Forest
Stewardship Council to help the process of certification.
Secondly Research work taken up to control diseases and pests by Semio-chemical,
biological control on out-breaks of the pests which are reducing survival and
productivity of Eucalyptus plantations. Forest Research Institutions, Agricultural
Universities and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research along with Indian
Paper Manufacturers Association (IPMA) have drawn up a plan and strategy on
control measures as well as introduction of new germ plasm (species) in order to
fight this menace so as to ensure availability of wood based raw material on
continuous and sustainable basis.
EconomyWatch.com Guest Author: Himanshu Talwar, 2009.