Forests cover 33% of land in the United States. Forest acreage has been steady or growing over the last 100 years. About 9% of that forestland is owned by industrial landowners. Those owners manage their forestlands carefully to produce fiber for the nation’s economy. We plant more than 600 million seedlings each year surpassing the rate of harvest by 50%.
U.S. managed forests bring good news to the carbon debate. We offer what are called “no regret” solutions. Carbon emissions from the manufacture of forest products are largely offset by carbon sequestered in forests and in the forest products themselves. We estimate that in the U.S. alone each year, over 100 million tons of carbon are stored in long lived forest products, such as the basic 2 by 4 building stud, each year. Total forest and product sequestration is 200 megatons, equivalent to 10% of total U.S. carbon dioxide emissions.
The forest products industry already makes a major contribution to emissions avoidance by its biomass use. Energy produced by burning the waste and by-products from saw mills and pulp mills provides more than 50% of what is required to manufacture wood and paper products.
Our energy efficiency is five times greater than the next highest manufacturing sector. Such energy is considered carbon neutral because the released carbon was only recently removed from the atmosphere by trees through photosynthesis. A tree produces one ton of wood using 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide, and yielding just over one ton of carbon.
Wood is good. Our products are in high demand. If you have diapered a baby with a modern wood pulp diaper you know why. There is so much demand for wood products that it cannot be satisfied by the U.S. industry. We import wood. We believe that sustainably managed forests contribute to sustainable economic development, address energy security and help meet the challenges posed by climate change.
Listen to the words of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fourth Assessment Report talking about the mitigation of increase in atmospheric carbon: In the long term, a sustainable forest management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon stocks, while producing an annual sustained yield of timber, fiber, or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained mitigation benefit.
A managed forest is a high tech forest. Every aspect from selective breeding to the cloned seed through fertilization and thinning is based on scientific research and application of new technology. We can increase the productivity of forest land by ten fold. And maintain its sustainability. Less than two percent of the U.S. commercial forest is harvested each year.
In some parts of the world some forests are not so well cared for. When a forest is destroyed and not replanted its trees no longer pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Only sustainable harvesting and replanting earn our industry its place in a carbon constrained world.
Illegal logging is not managed forestry. Unsustainable harvesting for heating and cooking is not managed forestry. Even as we import fiber we must seek to export the sustainable practices that we follow. Worldwide, only seven percent of the forests are certified as being sustainably managed. The percentage is very low in some countries. In the United States,with 8% of the world’s primary forest, 25% of private forest lands are voluntarily certified through independent programs to verify sustainable management.
My company, Weyerhaeuser, certifies 100% of our forests for sustainability. Through certification, forest health is protected and the forest ecology is maintained. Any international protocol regarding forest land management must include incentives for and recognition of multiple certification systems. We must insist on mutual recognition of independent certification programs which are the basis for product certification from sustainable sources. Squabbling among certification systems is not productive.
Our forests are high tech, our products are higher tech. The enormous potential of the cellulose fiber in trees is released by modern technology in ways that could not be imagined 25 years ago.
The scientists and engineers who developed the diaper are near retirement. We need young, skilled applicants to take their job. Consider that a forest can be a source of raw material for:
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Cancer-fighting drugs, such as Taxol which is derived from Pacific yew trees.
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Biomass fuels, such as cellulosic ethanol and bio-diesel.
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Bio-degradable plastics – plastics made from carbohydrates, rather than hydrocarbons.
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Better trees from cloned propagation trees that use less land to produce more wood, faster, and that yield more energy than trees from wild forests.
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Emergency temporary housing, from multi-wall fiberboard for use in responding to natural disasters.
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New non-woven bio-fabrics that can substitute for petroleum fabrics; products that are simpler to manufacture, have high absorbency, and that are biodegradable.
These are game-changing developments, requiring capital, research, development and time. The climate, social, and economic benefits I have mentioned will occur if the marketplace is allowed to work. The trial and error of a free economy has demonstrated resilience and yielded tremendous benefits to mankind. The earth’s resources were merely rocks and dust until well mixed with human intellect.
Our trees and our products can play an important role in carbon efficiency and the mitigation of increases to atmospheric carbon dioxide. But only if we are not restricted by public policy. Legislation and regulation can create winners and losers before the market has a chance to choose and before investors have placed their bet.
Government policies that help reduce the cost of capital through lower interest rates, investment incentives and accelerated depreciation benefit all new technologies. Climate change policies that promote sustainable forest management benefit all landscapes. A vibrant managed forest benefits all people.
Thank you.
