The Business Of Sustainable Forestry

A range of powerful forces -- increasing demand for wood, uncertain and decreasing supply, increasing environmental pressures, and growing markets for environmentally certified wood -- are changing the way the forest products industry conducts business. Forward-thinking firms have recognized the significance of these forces and are developing a new business model, one that will not only sustain revenues, but can ensure the long-term health of the forests upon which the industry depends.The Business of Sustainable Forestry integrates and analyzes a series of 21 case studies of industry leaders carried out by the Sustainable Forestry Working Group. The motivations of the pioneering firms studied are as varied as their characteristics, yet each has made significant progress. The authors of this book argue that the operations that have been most succeessful are those that have integrated sustainable forestry principles and practices into their overall corporate strategy. The book: describes the forces that are pushing the industry toward sustainability presents an overview of the new techniques and technologies that are making sustainable forestry more feasible than ever presents in clear, engaging prose company profiles that demonstrate both the promise of and the obstacles to sustainable forest management gives a clear-eyed look at practices such as certification and their capacity to transform the forest products market provides conclusions drawn from the cases by Stuart Hart of the University of North Carolina and Matt Arnold of the Management Institute for Environment and Business offers a succinct set of lessons learned The Business of Sustainable Forestry is the first book to present a composite snapshot of the business of sustainable forestry and the lessons learned by early adopters in form and language accessible to the general business reader. Forest and natural resource managers, forest products industry managers, and students and academics in schools of business and forestry will find the book a unique and valuable guide to an industry in transition.

Forests are under tremendous pressure from human uses of all kinds, and one of the most significant threats to their sustainability comes from commercial interests. This book presents a comprehensive examination of the interactions between the forest products sector and the sustainability of forests. It captures the most current sustainability concerns within the forestry sector and various sustainability-oriented initiatives to address these. Experts from around the world analyze interconnected topics including market mechanisms, regulatory mechanisms, voluntary actions, and governance, and outline their effectiveness, potential, and limitations. By presenting a novel overview of the burgeoning field of business sustainability within the forestry sector, this book paves a way forward in understanding what is working, what is not working, and what could potentially work to ensure sustainable business practices within the forestry sector,

This volume provides 16 detailed case studies of major companies representing each step in the commercial chain from forest management to retailing forest products. The studies, from around the world, demonstrate what the shift to sustainability means for businesses involved in forest products - some of the world's most important renewable resources. Introductory chapters characterize the process and the gains for all companies, organizations and business schools engaged with sustainable forestry.

This book discusses the reality of implementing sustainable forest management measures. Rather than simply offering theoretical descriptions, the book comprehensively details how sustainably managed forests can only be achieved through the cooperation and support of foresters, politicians, business leaders, local communities, consumers of forest-based goods and services, and the general public. The book also aims to raise public awareness of the factors involved in attaining the true sustainability of forest management, and the consequences of failing to do so, as well as the current issues facing sustainable forest management such as land ownership and land-use rights, political corruption, environmental stressors, and economic pressure. In 17 chapters, the book will appeal to academics and teachers in forestry and related areas, government practitioners, development agencies, and NGOs.

Most forest products analysts exploring the market for sustainable forest products have been searching for the green consumer. They have assumed that the well-documented consumer concerns about the impact of the industry on the forest would make consumer demand the dominant force propelling the industry toward sustainability.While consumers' concerns about the industry's environmental impact remain important, many other, more powerful, forces are at work that will lead to an overall market shift towards sustainable forest management (SFM). These factors are converging to shift environmental attention on the industry from process controls and recycling to the management of forest resources. Today, a greater emphasis on the entire life cycle of forest products is pushing environmental concerns through the value chain from retail stores and pulp mills back down to the forest floor.This paper assesses the major drivers and pressures on the forest products industry that are combining to bring about more SFM; thereby, significantly increasing the volume of sustainably produced forest products entering the markets.The paper first looks at push drivers - those drivers putting pressure on the industry, pushing it towards greater sustainability. Second, external pull drivers are examined. These are incentives that encourage the forest products industry to change its practices and operate more sustainably. The third section describes how these push and pull drivers are converging to gradually create a market for sustainably produced forest products. Finally, geographic and industry structure factors are examined to identify how and where the transition to sustainable forestry is most likelyto emerge.

As experience grows with sustainable forest management (SFM) practices throughout the world, one single factor continues to emerge as noncontrovertible: SFM practices do appear to cost more to implement in the forest. It is this factor that continues to drive the debate over whether SFM practices are economically-feasible for the forest products industry. If SFM proponents fail to recognize the importance of helping industry to increase the higher value of wood produced with equal or less resource use, then incentive-based efforts to infuse SFM practices and certified wood product development into accepted industry standards will not succeed. Finding ways to foster the adoption of emerging technologies that enable the forest industry to accomplish better bottom-line results could prove to be of significant benefit to fast-tracking the implementation of SFM practices worldwide. Identifying these emerging technologies, however, and providing a pathway for easier entry into the market is no simple task.This Emerging Technologies note highlights some of the most promising technologies, techniques, and strategies that may foster the implementation of SFM practices by offering improved environmental and bottom-line results to the forest products industry.

In 1990, with the forests of British Columbia the focus of economic, environmental, and social conflict over resource management, British Columbia's Ministry of Forests established the British Columbia Forest Resources Commission. At the time the public was vocal in its concern over the visual impacts of clearcuts. Forest communities were dissatisfied over the loss of jobs because small operators were unable to gain access to timber and with the processing of harvested trees outside the region; and in those communities demand was rising to develop smaller value-added wood product manufacturing. The commission was mandated to examine the state of the province's land base, recommend ways to improve its management, and address the economic and social issues.In 1993, the commission recommended that the provincial government conduct a pilot project to evaluate new forest management techniques that would embrace an ethic of enhanced stewardship. The project was carried out in the Vernon District of the Kamloops Forest Region with a goal of balancing the old values of forest economics with new values that support the preservation of wilderness, environmental protection, water quality, recreation, and community stability. This case study examines that project.