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FOREST RAW MATERIALS

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A forest product is any material derived from a forestry for direct consumption or commercial use, such as lumber (timber), paper, or forage for livestock. Wood, by far the dominant forest product, is used for many purposes, such as wood fuel (e.g. in form of firewood or charcoal) or the finished structural materials used for the construction of buildings , or as a raw material, in the form of wood pulp, that is used in the production of paper . All other non-wood products derived from forest resources, comprising a broad variety of other forest products, are collectively described as non-timber forest products.
Many forest management policies have been implemented that impact forest product economics, including forest access restrictions, harvesting fees, and harvest limits. Deforestation, global warming and other environmental concerns have increasingly affected the availability and sustainability of forest products, as well as the economies of regions dependent upon forestry around the world. In recent years, the idea of sustainable forestry, which aims to preserve crop yields without causing irreversible damage to ecosystem health, has changed the relationship between environmentalists and the forest products industry. Stakeholders in the forest products industry include government departments, commercial enterprises, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), policy-makers and analysts, private and international organizations.
Since 1947, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has published an annual yearbook of forest products. The FAO Yearbook of Forest Products is a compilation of statistical data on basic forest products for all countries and territories of the world. It contains series of annual data on the volume of production and the volume and value of trade in forest products. It includes tables showing direction of trade and average unit values of trade for certain products. Statistical information in the yearbook is based primarily on data provided to the FAO Forestry Department by the countries through questionnaires or official publications. In the absence of official data, FAO makes an estimate based on the best information available.
FAO also publishes an annual survey of pulp and paper production capacities around the world. The survey presents statistics on pulp and paper capacity and production by country and by grade. The statistics are based on information submitted by correspondents worldwide, most of them pulp and paper associations, and represents 85% of the world production of paper and paperboard.


TYPES OF FOREST RAW MATERIALS
Materials derived from a forest for direct consumption or commercial use, such as lumber, paper, or forage for livestock. Wood, by far the dominant forest product, is used for many purposes, such as wood fuel (e.g. in form of firewood or charcoal) or the finished structural materials used for the construction of buildings, or as a raw material, in the form of wood pulp, that is used in the production of paper. All other non-wood products derived from forest resources, comprising a broad variety of other forest products, are collectively described as non-timber forest products.

 PRIMARY PRODUCTS
LUMBER (TIMBER)
Lumber or timber, the raw material for the construction of buildings or furniture making.  This is wood that has been processed into beams and planks, a stage in the process of wood production .Lumber may be supplied either rough- sawn, or surfaced on one or more of its faces. Besides pulpwood, rough lumber is the raw material for furniture making and other items requiring additional cutting and shaping. It is available in many species, usually hardwoods; but it is also readily available in softwoods, such as white pine and red pine, because of their low cost. Finished lumber is supplied in standard sizes, mostly for the construction, industry primarily softwood, from coniferous species, including pine, fir and spruce (collectively spruce-pine-fir), cedar, and hemlock, but also some hardwood, for high-grade flooring. Lumber is mainly used for structural purposes but has many other uses as well. It is classified more commonly as a softwood than as a hardwood, because 80% of lumber comes from softwood.

PAPER
This is made from wood pulp derived from the timber stock pulpwood. Paper is a thin material produced by pressing together moist fibres of cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets. It is a versatile material with many uses, including writing, printing, packaging, cleaning, and a number of industrial and construction processes.
The pulp papermaking process is said to have been developed in China during the early 2nd century AD, possibly as early as the year 105 A.D., by the Han court eunuch Cai Lun, although the earliest archaeological fragments of paper derive from the 2nd century BC in China. The modern pulp and paper industry is global, with China leading its production and the United States right behind it.
Two processes in paper making are the
Chemical process and the
Mechanical process

PAPERBOARD
Paperboard is a thick packaging material derived from paper, cardboard is the generic term. Paperboard is a thick paper -based material. While there is no rigid differentiation between paper and paperboard, paperboard is generally thicker (usually over 0.25 mm, 0.010 in, or 10 points) than paper.
According to ISO standards, paperboard is a paper with a gram above 224 g/m 2, but there are exceptions. Paperboard can be single or multi-ply. Paperboard can be easily cut and formed, is lightweight, and because it is strong, is used in packaging. Another end-use would be graphic printing, such as book and magazine covers or postcards. Sometimes it is referred to as cardboard, which is a generic, lay term used to refer to any heavy paper pulp based board. Paperboard is also used in fine arts for creating sculptures.

VENEER
In woodworking, veneer refers to thin slices of wood, usually thinner than 3 mm (1/8 inch), that typically are glued onto core panels (typically wood, particle board or medium-density fiberboard ) to produce flat panels such as doors, tops and panels for cabinets , parquet floors and parts of furniture. They are also used in marquetry. Plywood consists of three or more layers of veneer, each glued with its grain at right angles to adjacent layers for strength. Veneer beading is a thin layer of decorative edging placed around objects, such as jewelry boxes. Veneer is also used to replace decorative papers. Veneer is also a type of manufactured board.
Veneer is obtained either by "peeling" the trunk of a tree or by slicing large rectangular blocks of wood known as flitches.

FIBREBOARD
Fiberboard – a cheaper and denser form of plywood, used when cost is considered most important. Often used as the underlying structure in car dashboards. Fibreboard is a type of engineered wood product that is made out of wood fibers. Types of fiberboard (in order of increasing density) include particle board, medium density fibreboard, and hardboard. Fibreboard is sometimes used as a synonym for particle board, but particle board usually refers to low density fibreboard. Plywood is not a type of fibreboard, as it is made of thin sheets of wood, not wood fibres or particles. Fibreboard, particularly medium density fibreboard (MDF), is heavily used in the furniture industry. For pieces that will be visible, a veneer of wood is often glued onto fibreboard to give it the appearance of conventional wood. Fibreboard is also used in the automotive industry to create free-form shapes such as dashboards, rear parcel shelves, and inner door shells. These pieces are usually covered with a skin, foil, or fabric such as cloth, suede, leather, or polyvinyl chloride.

DRYWALL
Drywall is a gypsum plaster placed inside two sheets of paper, used commonly as the finishing step in construction of interior walls and ceilings. Drywall (also known as plasterboard, wallboard, gypsum board) is a panel made of gypsum plaster pressed between two thick sheets of paper. It is used to make interior walls and ceilings. Drywall construction became prevalent as a speedier alternative to traditional lath and plaster wood plastic composite made from recycled materials. Wood-plastic composites (WPCs) are composite materials made of wood fibre, wood flour and thermoplastics. Chemical additives seem practically "invisible" (except mineral fillers and pigments, if added) in the composite structure. They provide for integration of polymer and wood flour (powder) while facilitating optimal processing conditions.

 SECONDARY PRODUCTS

FIREWOOD
Firewood is any wooden material that is gathered and used for fuel. Firewood is the most unprocessed form of wood fuel, supplies the majority of the developing world's energy needs. Generally, firewood is not highly processed and is in some sort of recognizable log or branch form, compared to other forms of wood fuel like pellets or chips. Firewood can be seasoned (dry) or unseasoned (fresh/wet). It can be classed as hardwood or softwood. Firewood is a renewable resource. However, demand for this fuel can outpace its ability to regenerate on local and regional level. Good forestry practices and improvements in devices that use firewood can improve the local wood supplies.


PELLETS
Pellets – a byproduct from sawmilling, is formed from compacted sawdust, easy to transport and has a high combustion efficiency. Pellet fuels (or pellets) are biofuels made from compressed organic matter or biomass. Pellets can be made from any one of five general categories of biomass: industrial waste and co-products, food waste, agricultural residues, energy crops, and virgin lumber. Wood pellets are the most common type of pellet fuel and are generally made from compacted sawdust and related industrial wastes from the milling of lumber, manufacture of wood products and furniture , and construction .[ citation needed ] Other industrial waste sources include empty fruit bunches, palm kernel shells, coconut shells, and tree tops and branches discarded during logging operations.
They can be used as fuels for power generation, commercial or residential heating, and cooking.

CELLULOSIC ETHANOL AND BIOMETHANOL
Cellulosic ethanol and Bio-methanol is second generation biofuels that are a potential replacement for gasoline. Cellulosic ethanol is a type of biofuel produced from lignocellulose, a structural material that comprises much of the mass of plants. Lignocellulose is composed mainly of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Production of ethanol from lignocellulose has the advantage of abundant and diverse raw material compared to sources such as corn and cane sugars, but requires a greater amount of processing to make the sugar monomers available to the microorganisms typically used to produce ethanol by fermentation.

CHARCOAL
Charcoal derived from tar, is used extensively in cooking, industry, and water purification, among others. Charcoal is a light, black residue, consisting of carbon and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen.

BLACK LIQUOR
Black liquor is a byproduct from pulp production, can be gasified and used as a syngas black liquor is the waste product from the craft process when digesting pulpwood into paper pulp removing lignin, hemicelluloses and other extractives from the wood to free the cellulose fibers. The equivalent material in the sulfite process is usually called brown liquor, but the terms red liquor, thick liquor and sulfite liquor are also used.

BYPRODUCTS

CORK
Corks are used to stop wine bottles and as the core in baseball bats. Cork is an impermeable buoyant material, a prime subset of bark tissue that is harvested for commercial use primarily from Quercus suber (the Cork Oak), which is endemic to southwest Europe and northwest Africa. Cork is composed of suberin, a hydrophobic substance and, because of its impermeable, buoyant, elastic, and fire retardant properties, it is used in a variety of products, the most common of which is wine stoppers. The montado landscape of Portugal produces approximately half of cork harvested annually worldwide, with
Corticeira Amorim being the leading company in the industry. Cork was examined microscopically by Robert Hooke, which led to his discovery and naming of the cell.

TAR
Tar is a black mixture of hydrocarbons and free carbon obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar is mainly used as a sealant for shingles and watercraft hulls. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. Production and trade in pine-derived tar was a major contributor in the economies of Northern Europe and Colonial America. Its main use was in preserving wooden vessels against rot. The largest user was the Royal Navy. Demand for tar declined with the advent of iron and steel ships.

TURPENTINE
Turpentine (also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, wood turpentine and colloquially turps) is a fluid obtained by the distillation of resin obtained from live trees, mainly pines. Turpentine is derived from tar, historically used extensively to thin oil-based paints and a protective furniture wax. It is mainly used as a solvent and as a source of materials for organic synthesis. Turpentine is composed of terpenes mainly the mono-terpenes, alpha-pinene and beta-pinene with lesser amounts of carene, camphene,
dipentene, and terpinolene.

RUBBER
Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds plus water. A wide range of commercial and industrial uses, tires and tubes are the largest consumer uses. Malaysia is one of the leading producers of rubber. Forms of poly-isoprene that are used as natural rubbers are classified as elastomers. Natural rubber is used by many manufacturing companies for the production of rubber products. Currently, rubber is harvested mainly in the form of the latex from the para-rubber tree or others. The latex is a sticky, milky colloid drawn off by making incisions into the bark and collecting the fluid in vessels in a process called "tapping". The latex then is refined into rubber ready for commercial processing. Natural rubber is used extensively in many applications and products, either alone or in combination with other materials. In major areas latex is allowed to coagulate in the collection cup. The coagulated lumps are collected and processed in to dry forms for marketing. In most of its useful forms, it has a large stretch ratio and high resilience, and is extremely waterproof.
Compared to vulcanized rubber, uncured rubber has relatively few uses. It is used for cements; for adhesive, insulating, and friction tapes; and for crepe rubber used in insulating blankets and footwear. Vulcanized rubber, on the other hand, has numerous applications. Resistance to abrasion makes softer kinds of rubber valuable for the treads of vehicle tires and conveyor belts, and makes hard rubber valuable for pump housings and piping used in the handling of abrasive sludge. The flexibility of rubber is often used in hoses, tires, and rollers for a wide variety of devices ranging from domestic clothes wringers to printing presses; its elasticity makes it suitable for various kinds of shock absorbers and for specialized machinery mountings designed to reduce vibration. Being relatively impermeable to gases, rubber is useful in the manufacture of articles such as air hoses, balloons, balls, and cushions. The resistance of rubber to water and to the action of most fluid chemicals has led to it use in rainwear, diving gear, and chemical and medicinal tubing, and as a lining for storage tanks, processing equipment, and railroad tank cars. Because of their electrical resistance, soft rubber goods are used as insulation and for protective gloves, shoes, and blankets; hard rubber is used for articles such as telephone housings, parts for radio sets, meters, and other electrical instruments. The coefficient of friction of rubber, which is high on dry surfaces and low on wet surfaces, leads to the use of rubber both for power-transmission belting and for water-lubricated bearings in deep well pumps.

CREOSOTE
Creosotes are a category of carbonaceous chemicals formed by the distillation of various tars, and by pyrolysis of plant-derived material, such as wood or fossil fuel. Creosote as historically been used as a disinfectant, laxative, and to treat coughs. They are typically used as preservatives or antiseptics. Some creosote types were used historically as a treatment for components of seagoing and outdoor wood structures to prevent rot e.g. bridgework and railroad ties.

TALL OIL
Tall oil, also called "liquid rosin" is a viscous yellow-black odorous liquid obtained as a by-product of the Kraft process of wood pulp manufacture when pulping mainly coniferous trees. Tall oil is a cheap alternative for use in soaps, lubricants, and drilling fluid. Oil is the third largest chemical by-product in a Kraft mill after lignin and hemicellulose; the yield of crude tall oil from the process is in the range of 30 – 50 kg / ton pulp. It may contribute to 1.0 - 1.5% of the mill's revenue if not used internally.


Forest produce
Forest produce is defined under section 2(4) of the Indian Forest Act, 1927. Its legal definition includes timber, charcoal, caoutchouc, catechu, wood-oil, resin, natural varnish, bark, lac, myrobalans, mahua flowers (whether found inside or brought from a forest or not), trees and leaves, flowers and fruit, plants (including grass, creepers, reeds and moss), wild animals, skins, tusks, horns, bones, cocoons, silk, honey, wax, other parts or produce of animals, and also includes peat, surface soil, rocks and minerals etc. when found inside or brought from a forest, among other things.

Mahua
Forest produce can be divided into several categories. From the point of view of usage, forest produce can be categorized into three types: Timber, Non Timber and Minor Minerals. Non-timber forest products [NTFPs] are known also as minor forest produce (MFP) or non-wood forest produce (NWFP). The NTFP can be further categorized into medicinal and aromatic plants (MAP), oil seeds, fiber & floss, resins, edible plants, bamboo, reeds and grasses.


Wood raw produces
Timber
The Odisha Forest Development Corporation (OFDC) trades timber in round and sawn forms, in different dimensions, from several depots. Round timbers are sold monthly from each depot, through general auction.
Sandalwood
The sandalwood tree is found in southern Indian forests, i.e. in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, etc.
Plywood
The plywood industry at Kuikeda near Saintala of Bolangir district, Odisha, was incorporated during 1983, and started commercial production during the year, 1986-87; it operated until 1992-93.
Non-wood forest produce
Non-timber forest product (NTFP) refers to all biological materials other than timber extracted from natural forests for human and animal use.
Kendu leaves
Orissa is the third largest producer of Kendu leaf in India. The uniqueness of kendu leaf in Orissa is because of its specification of Color, Texture, Size and Body condition of the leaf.

Tendu Patta (Leaf) Collection
Bamboo
The collection and marketing of Bamboo from the natural forest is done either by OFDC or through the RMP (Raw Material Procurer) as per the decision of the Government to regulate the collection and trade of Bamboo.
Sal seed
Sal seed is a nationalized product since 1973 and is one of the important Produce obtained from Sal (Shorea robursta) tree, which is predominantly available in Orissa.
Honey
OFDC is involved in collection, processing and trading of honey from natural forest with an assurance of pure and genuine in quality.
Medicinal plants
With the financial aid of National Medicinal Plants Board, Government of India, 16 projects for promotional activities are currently running in Orissa.

Medicinal Plant Karra
Rubber
OFDC is having rubber plantation and processing unit in Baripada & Bhubaneswar zone, since 2003. OFDC is extracting the rubber from the matured trees and marketing it.
Pickle & squash
OFDC is manufacturing and marketing high quality, delicious pickles such as Mango Pickle, Mixed Pickle – free from preservatives.
Cashew & spice
OFDC Ltd. have raised cashew plantation over an area of 18704.99 ha. from 1978-79 to 1992-93 in Bhubaneswar and Berhampur Division. Out of which pure cashew plantation over an area of 11,053.99 ha.
Minerals
Biodiesel plant
Biodiesel is the name of a clean burning alternative fuel, produced from domestic, renewable resources. Biodiesel contains no petroleum, but it can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a biodiesel blend.
Non-timber forest products (NTFPs), also special, non-wood, minor, alternative and secondary forest products, are useful substances, materials and/or commodities obtained from forests which do not require harvesting (logging) trees. They include game animals, fur-bearers, nuts, seeds, berries, mushrooms, oils, foliage, medicinal plants, peat, fuel wood, and forage.
Research on NTFPs have focused on their commodifiability for rural incomes and markets, as an expression of traditional knowledge or as a livelihood option for rural household needs, and, as a key component of sustainable forest management and conservation strategies. All research promote forest products as valuable commodities and tools that can promote the conservation of forests.
Definitions
There is a wide variety of NTFPs, including mushrooms, huckleberries, ferns, transplants, seed cones, pinion seeds, tree nuts, moss, maple syrup, cork, cinnamon, rubber, tree oils and resins, and ginseng. The United Kingdom's Forestry Commission defines NTFPs as "any biological resources found in woodlands except timber," and Forest Harvest, part of the Reforesting Scotland project, defines them as "materials supplied by woodlands - except the conventional harvest of timber." These definitions include wild and managed game, fish and insects. NTFPs are commonly grouped into categories such as floral greens, decorative, medicinal plants, foods, flavors and fragrances, fibers, and saps and resins.
Other terms similar to NTFPs include special, non-wood, minor, alternative and secondary forest products. NTFPs in particular highlight forest products which are of value to local people and communities but have been overlooked in the wake of forest management priorities (for example, timber production and animal forage). In recent decades, interest has grown in using NTFPs as alternatives or supplements to forest management practices. In some forest types, under the right political and social conditions, forests can be managed to increase NTFP diversity and, consequently, to increase biodiversity and potentially economic diversity.
Uses
The harvest of NTFPs remains widespread throughout the world. People from a wide range of socio-economic, geographical and cultural contexts harvest NTFPs for a number of purposes, including but not limited to: household subsistence, maintenance of cultural and familial traditions, spiritual fulfillment as well as physical and emotional well-being, scientific learning and income. Other terms synonymous with harvesting include wild-crafting, gathering, collecting and foraging. NTFPs also serve as raw materials for industries ranging from large-scale floral greens suppliers and pharmaceutical companies to micro-enterprises centred upon a wide variety of activities (such as basket-making, woodcarving and the harvest and processing of various medicinal plants).
Economic importance
It is difficult to estimate the contribution of NTFPs to national or regional economies as there is a lack of broad-based systems for tracking the combined value of the hundreds of products that make up various NTFP industries. One exception to this is the maple syrup industry, which in 2002 in the US alone yielded 1.4 million US gallons (5,300 m3) worth USD$38.3 million. In temperate forests such as in the US, wild edible mushrooms such as matsutake, medicinal plants such as ginseng, and floral greens such as salal and sword fern are multimillion-dollar industries. While these high-value species may attract the most attention, a diversity of NTFPs can be found in most forests of the world.
In tropical forests, for example, NTFPs can be an important source of income that can supplement farming and/or other activities. A value-analysis of the Amazon rainforest in Peru found that exploitation of NTFPs could yield higher net revenue per hectare than would timber harvest of the same area, while still conserving vital ecological services.[7] Their economic, cultural and ecological value, when considered in aggregate, makes managing NTFPs an important component of sustainable forest management and the conservation of biological and cultural diversity.
What products are extracted from forests?
Forests and trees outside forests provide a wide range of wood and non-wood forest products. The productive function of forest resources is a common thematic element of all the ecoregional criteria and indicator processes. This reflects an ambition to maintain an ample, valuable supply of primary forest products, while at the same time ensuring that production and harvesting are sustainable and do not compromise the management options of future generations. Describing the forest resource as a provider of goods has traditionally been one of the main objectives of global forest resources assessments. Earlier assessments focused on timber supply, but the concept of forest production has since widened to encompass all types of wood and non-wood forest products. As part of the FRA 2005 reporting process, information was collected on the following variables related to the productive function of forest resources:
area of forest designated for production;
area of productive forest plantations;
growing stock and commercial growing stock;
removals of wood products;
removals of non-wood forest products (NWFPs)
How much of the forest area has been set aside for production?
FOREST AREA DESIGNATED FOR PRODUCTIVE PURPOSES
This indicates to what extent forest areas have been set aside for production, either by legal prescription or by decision of the landowner or manager. Forest designation is reported in two ways: ‘primary function’ and ‘total area with function’. Forest areas with a specific, designated function considered to be significantly more important than other functions are reported as ‘primary function’. All areas with a designated function (not necessarily primary) are reported as ‘total area with function’.
Information availability
Of the 229 countries and areas covered by FRA 2005, 172 provided information on forests designated primarily for productive purposes. For 2005, 141 of these reported having areas where production is designated as the primary function, and only 82 countries reported on total area with function. The countries reporting data on areas designated primarily for production account for 94 percent of the global forest area. In a few sub regions, however, reporting countries account for a lower proportion of total forest area, i.e. the Caribbean, Central America and Western and Central Africa.
The countries that reported data on total area with function account for only 41 percent of the global forest area are Asia, North America and South America are higher then average reporting coverage, while Africa, the Caribbean, Europe (due to the absence of reporting by the Russian Federation) and Oceania show coverage below 15 percent.
The remaining countries/areas either did not report or reported that no information was available. These countries may still have areas designated for production, but they are either included in other categories, such as ‘multiple use’, or cannot be quantified.
A summary by region/sub region of the 2005 status of areas designated primarily for productive purposes.
At the global level, 34 percent of total forest area has production designated as its main purpose. In Europe, some 73 percent of forest area has production as the primary function, while North America reported only 6 percent designated for production – instead reporting most of its forests as designated for multiple use. This indicates a clear regional difference in the perception of forest designation.
Data on total area with function are too weak to allow a breakdown by region and subregion. Globally, 54 percent of forest area was reported as designated for productive purposes, whether as the primary or secondary function. This figure can be seen as a global estimate of the area of forest available for the supply of wood and non-wood forest products.
The analysis of trends in area of forest designated primarily for production is based on the countries that reported a complete time series (163 countries representing 90 percent of the global forest area).
Globally, there is a slight decreasing tendency for area of forest with production as the primary function. Many regions/sub regions follow the global trend, while others (e.g. Asia and South America) show an irregular pattern. In the case of Asia, Myanmar adopted a new classification in 2000, adding some 20 million hectares as primarily designated for production. For South America, most countries are either stable or reporting a steady increase. Peru, however, reported a decrease of about 15 million hectares since 2000.
PRODUCTIVE FOREST PLANTATIONS
Forest plantations – a subset of all planted forests – are defined as forests of introduced species and in some cases native species, established through planting or seeding, with few species, even spacing and/or even-aged stands. Productive forest plantations are defined as forest plantations predominantly intended for the provision of wood, fibre and non-wood forest products.
Productive plantations can also provide protective, recreational, amenity and other functions, which are not precluded by the harvesting of products.
Some forests classified as semi-natural include planted trees of native species, most of which are used for productive purposes. As these forests do not fall under the forest plantation definition, they are not included in this analysis. The FRA 2005 thematic study on planted forests provides a more detailed analysis of both forest plantations and the planted forest component of semi-natural forests
Information on the area of productive forest plantations forms part of country reporting on forest characteristics. Out of 229 countries, 174 provided information for 2005 and 168 information for all three reporting years: 1990, 2000 and 2005. The countries providing information account for 93 percent of the global forest area. Unfortunately, information is missing from many of the smaller islands and areas and from many of the countries in the Congo Basin.
Some countries experienced difficulty in differentiating between predominantly productive or protective functions, because their forest plantations are managed for multiple purposes.
"The total area of productive forest plantations reported in 2005 was about 109 million hectares, which corresponds to 2.8 percent of the global forest area.
Sub regions reporting the greatest area of productive forest plantations are East Asia, Europe and North America, together accounting for about 63 percent of global productive forest plantations. In East Asia most of the plantations are found in China, and in North America in the United States.
Sub regions reporting the least area of productive forest plantations are the African sub regions, the Caribbean, Central America and Western and Central Asia.
In many sub regions, the majority of the productive forest plantations are found in just a few countries. In the East Asia sub region, 95 percent of the productive forest plantations are found in China. In South and Southeast Asia, 68 percent are in India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. In Western and Central Asia, 98 percent are found in the Islamic Republic of Iran and in Turkey. Canada, which acknowledges that it has forest plantations, had insufficient data for area reporting. Thus in North America, 99.6 percent of the reported forest plantations are in the United States. In Eastern and Southern Africa, 51 percent are in South Africa; in Western and Central Africa, 71 percent are in Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Rwanda and Senegal; and in Northern Africa, 96 percent are in Ethiopia, Morocco and the Sudan. The Russian Federation has 55 percent of the productive forest plantations in Europe; Australia and New Zealand 93 percent of those in Oceania; and Argentina, Brazil and Chile 82 percent of those in South America.
The ten countries with the greatest area of productive forest plantations account for 79.5 million hectares or 73 percent of the total global area of productive forest plantations (Figure 5.5). China, the United States and the Russian Federation together account for more than half the world’s productive plantations.
At the global level, the area of productive forest plantations increased by 2.0 million hectares per year during 1990–2000, and by 2.5 million hectares per year during 2000–2005, an increase of 23 percent compared with the 1990–2000 period. In relative terms, productive forest plantations accounted for 1.9 percent of total global forest area in 1990, 2.4 percent in 2000 and 2.8 percent in 2005.
All sub regions except Northern Africa show an increase in productive forest plantations. However, the annual change varies considerably among sub regions. The greatest increase by far is in East Asia, mainly due to the reported large-scale establishment of forest plantations in China.
China reported the greatest annual increase for the last five-year period, followed by the Russian Federation and the United States. These three countries together account for 71 percent of the global annual increase in productive forest plantations.

How much wood is available for commercial exploitation?
GROWING STOCK AND COMMERCIAL GROWING STOCK
Forest growing stock has traditionally been a key indicator of forest capacity for wood production and has formed part of global forest resources assessments since the very beginning. Although FRA 2005 broadened its scope to cover a range of forest benefits, growing stock was still a fundamental piece of information in this assessment, as well as being the basis for estimating biomass and carbon stocks for most countries.
Information from each country on total growing stock and forest area was used to estimate the growing stock per hectare. This is a good indicator of how well-stocked forests are, and the trends in this parameter indicate whether forests are becoming less or better stocked.
FRA 2005 also collected country information on commercial growing stock, i.e. the amount of wood that is considered commercial or potentially commercial. Usually, the commercial growing stock of a country refers to the volume of commercial trees growing in forests where the harvesting of wood is permitted.
Of the 229 countries and areas covered by FRA 2005, 147 countries reported on growing stock for all three years, constituting 88 percent of global forest area . In most regions, countries have reported well. Only one region – Oceania – shows low reporting on growing stock (15 percent), because Australia did not provide information on this indicator. With a few exceptions, reporting countries furnished information for all three reporting years. As regards commercial growing stock, 107 countries provided information for all three years.
Although many countries provide information on growing stock, the quality of the information is variable. A few countries with repeated national forest assessments have very reliable information, but many countries do not have good inventory data to support growing stock estimates and changes in growing stock over time. In many cases, a single estimate of growing stock per hectare has been used for all reporting years. Furthermore, the original data on which the estimates are based are often old and not representative of all forests in the country.
FRA 2005 defines growing stock as the standing volume of trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH) of at least 10 cm. However, countries may use national diameter thresholds if the limits are thoroughly documented. This helps countries report data consistently over time and allows for better trend estimates. The trade-off is that comparisons between individual countries become more difficult and that large, forest-rich countries with non-standard diameter thresholds may affect regional and subregional averages.
In order to obtain global, regional and sub-regional estimates of total growing stock, the stock per hectare was estimated for each sub region for those countries providing information. These estimates were then applied to the total forest area of the sub region. Regional and global estimates were obtained by combining the sub regional estimates.
Total global growing stock is estimated at 434 billion m3 , of which about 30 percent is found in South America.
The global average for growing stock per hectare is 110 m3 per hectare. South America, with 155 m3 per hectare, and Western and Central Africa, with 189 m3 per hectare, are significantly higher than average owing to some forest-rich countries reporting high volume (Brazil and the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Oceania, with 36 m3 per hectare, is significantly lower than average, but few countries are reporting in this region and its estimates are heavily influenced by Papua New Guinea. This country reported low volume per hectare because it only included trees with a DBH above 50 cm in its growing stock estimates. Most countries with well-stocked forests are found in Europe. Of the 11 countries reporting an average growing stock of more than 250 m3 per hectare, eight are in central Europe.
The five countries with the greatest total growing stock account for almost 261 billion m3 , which corresponds to 60 percent of the global total. Of these, Brazil has the largest growing stock, with 81 billion m3 or 19 percent of the total.
Information on commercial growing stock was provided by 113 countries. For each sub region, commercial growing stock was estimated as a percentage of the total growing stock of reporting countries, and these percentages were applied to the total growing stock estimates for each sub region.
Global commercial growing stock amounts to some 202 billion m3 , which represents about 47 percent of total growing stock. In absolute terms, Europe and North and Central America account for about 130 billion m3 or 64 percent of global commercial growing stock. In relative terms, there are some important regional differences. Commercial growing stock constitutes a lower percentage of total growing stock in tropical regions (e.g. Africa, Central America and South America) than in temperate regions (East Asia, Europe and North America). This is mainly because of differences in the characteristics of the forests in terms of species diversity and different harvesting regimes. Tropical forests are very rich in species of which only a few are considered commercial, and harvesting is usually carried out through selective logging in which only trees above a certain minimum diameter are cut. Temperate forests are dominated by a smaller number of species of which many are commercial. Moreover, the harvesting regime in temperate forests is generally not based on minimum diameters, which means that most of the growing stock in areas available for wood supply can be considered commercial
At the global level, there is a slight decrease in total growing stock for the reporting period. There are some regional tendencies: Africa, Asia, Oceania and South America show a slight decrease, while Europe and North and Central America show a slight increase.
As regards growing stock per hectare, changes at the global level are not significant. At regional and sub regional levels, however, there are more significant changes. For example, Europe, excluding the Russian Federation, shows a net increase of 1.2 m3 per hectare annually for the last 15-year period, while South and Southeast Asia show a net decrease of 1.0 m3 per hectare annually, mainly due to a decrease in growing stock per hectare in Indonesia.
Changes in total growing stock reflect the combined effects of changes in forest area and in growing stock per hectare. However, for many countries, changes in growing stock only reflect the changes in forest area, because their estimates of growing stock are based on a single figure per hectare determined at one point in time. Thus the actual trends may be more pronounced than what is seen in this analysis.
At the global level, there is a small decrease in commercial growing stock, mainly due to the decrease in Europe during 1990–2000. The other regions show only small changes. When commercial growing stock is expressed as a percentage of total growing stock, the global pattern is the same, although some subregions (e.g. the Caribbean and South and Southeast Asia) show more pronounced trends.
How much wood is harvested?
REMOVALS OF WOOD PRODUCTS
Wood products removed from forests and other wooded land constitute an important component of the productive function. The volume of wood removed indicates the economic and social utility of forest resources to national economies and local communities. This information contributes to monitoring the use of forest resources by comparing actual removal with the sustainable potential.
Wood removals are influenced by a number of factors. The following ones should be considered in order to better understand the removal figures from various countries:
organizational issues, such as legal forms of harvesting, ownership of forest land and logging companies, and availability of forest management plans;
harvesting systems (clear-cut, polycyclic, diameter limit and species grouping), practices and intensity; illegal logging; and the environmental impact of harvesting;
institutional framework conditions, which may differ among countries in terms of timber extraction fees, forest law compliance, subsidies and incentives for forest management or non-transparent concession agreements;
governance issues and the ability to detect and prevent illegal logging.
In FRA 2005, reported wood removals from forests and other wooded land cover both industrial roundwood and fuelwood. The data on fuelwood are included because wood is the main source of fuel for cooking and heating in many parts of the world.
For 1990 and 2000, the data reported are five-year averages for 1988–1992 and 1998–2002 respectively. The data for 2005 are forecasts, taking into account the most recent country information available.

A total of 167 countries reported on wood removals. In terms of forest area, they account for about 99 percent at the global level; non-reporting countries are mostly those with little or no forest area. One reason for the high reporting rate may be that available FAOSTAT data on wood removals were provided to countries for use if no new and better data were available.
Globally, quantitative data on wood removals are often based on population figures and consumption estimates, and are weak for this reason. In particular, reported fuelwood removals from several tropical forest countries with significant forest cover and large populations show remarkable deviations from the figures reported by other sources, e.g. FAOSTAT. Such deviations between sources indicate that there are uncertainties that should be considered in using these figures.
Countries usually do not report illegal removals and informal fuelwood gathering, and thus the figures for removals might be much higher than those reported. Global wood removals in 2005 amount to just over 3 billion m3, of which about 60 percent is industrial round wood and 40 percent fuelwood. These figures refer to forest only. An additional 7 million m3 of fuelwood globally was reported from other wooded land. However, the data behind this figure come from a small number of countries and thus do not allow for a breakdown by region and subregion.
In Africa, the Caribbean, Central America and South and Southeast Asia, removals are mainly fuelwood, while in Central and North America, East Asia, Europe and Oceania, removals are mainly industrial roundwood.
Some 40 countries account for up to 90 percent of the removals in tropical forests.
Global removals show a relatively stable development, without significant changes over the last 15 years. Nor did the proportion between industrial roundwood and fuelwood (60 to 40 percent) change significantly between reporting periods.
Eastern and Southern African countries reported steadily increasing wood removals: from 153 million m3 in 1990 to 185 million m3 in 2005. Only Madagascar reported a decrease, owing to a reduction in removals of fuelwood. Northern, Western and Central Africa also show a steady increase in removals, with the African continent as a whole reporting an escalation from 499 million m3 (1990) to 661 million m3 (2005).
East Asia reported a decline in removals, caused primarily by a significant decrease in China as the result of a logging ban. Decreases were also reported in India, Indonesia and Malaysia in the South and Southeast Asia region. For Asia as a whole, the reduction in removals was significant, from 454 million m3 in 1990 down to 362 million m3 in 2005.
Some European countries show a slight decrease, mainly due to reduced removals of fuelwood in certain countries. However, after a decrease in the 2000 reporting period, the figures are again moving towards the level of 1990.
North and Central America show a very stable development over the last 15 years: Removals decreased slightly from 855 million m3 in 1990 to 837 million m3 in 2005.
A steady increase was reported for Oceania. Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea account for most wood removals, which have gone from 44 million m3 in 1990 to 64 million m3 in 2005, owing to an increase in industrial roundwood. South America reported a significant reduction, from 446 million m3 in 1990 to 398 million m3 in 2005.

What other products can be obtained from forests?
REMOVALS OF NON-WOOD FOREST PRODUCTS
There has been growing recognition of – and expectations for – the role of NWFPs as an integral part of sustainable forest management in developed and developing countries. FAO has defined NWFPs as follows: “Non-wood forest products consist of goods of biological origin other than wood, derived from forests, other wooded land and trees outside forests.” They perform a crucial role in meeting the subsistence needs of a large part of the world’s population living in or near forests and in providing them with supplementary income-generating opportunities.
A wide variety of products are collected from forests, woodlands and trees outside forests – a major portion of which are consumed by households or sold locally, while some find export markets. Various products have been domesticated and are being cultivated; in fact, the border between NWFPs and agricultural crops is becoming increasingly blurred. The absence of a uniform classification system and limited human/financial resources in the national institutions dealing with NWFPs make the gathering and reporting of data a challenge.
Understanding the potential contribution of NWFPs to sustainable rural development, especially in poverty alleviation and food security, requires good statistical data, which in most cases are gathered sporadically and are often unreliable. However, FAO recognizes the importance of NWFPs to social, economic and environmental contexts and is attempting to draw a global picture based on the best available information. For this reason, FRA 2000, for the first time, included a section on the status of NWFPs, and FRA 2005 seeks to provide additional quantitative information on the amount and value of NWFP removals.
Systematic data collection on NWFPs at the national level is rare, although their significant contribution to local livelihoods is well understood empirically. For FRA 2005, countries were asked to report on removals of 16 categories of NWFPs.
In total, 71 countries reported data on removals of at least one NWFP category, and many of these reported for one reporting year only. Many countries did not report any data or only for one or a few categories. Even where national statistics exist, all removals are not always recorded, so the figures reported are in many cases considered underestimates.
At the global level, they encompass 63 percent of total forest area. East Asia and Europe have better availability, and the reporting countries in these subregions cover more than 90 percent of the forest area.
Four categories show significantly higher information availability than the others: food, raw materials for medicine and aromatic products, exudates and other plant products. Still, the countries reporting on these four categories only represent 45–55 percent of the global forest area. For the remaining categories, the availability of information is weak, at least at the global level.
Most of the removal data provided are based mainly on commercial figures, but many NWFPs are used and consumed non-commercially. Thus it is assumed that the real removal figures are considerably higher than those provided for FRA 2005.
Regarding the quality of the information, it is important to bear in mind that the figures given in the country reports (even though reported using the same template) may reflect differences in the way data were collected. Asia and Europe show the greatest availability of information. In fact, Asia has traditionally used NWFPs and often includes them in official national accounts and international trade statistics. This is not generally the case in other regions. Thus aggregation of the reported figures and the drawing of any far-reaching conclusions should be avoided or done with extreme care. As quantities have been calculated for reporting countries only, the regional and world totals are underestimates.
According to the figures reported to FRA 2005, among these four best-covered categories, Asia accounts for the largest removals. With a share of 74 percent, China has by far the world’s largest removals of forest plant products for food, consisting mainly of oil seeds, nuts and bamboo shoots. Other countries with significant removal volumes for food are India, the Republic of Korea and Pakistan in Asia; the Czech Republic, Finland, Italy and Sweden in Europe; and Brazil in South America.
China also accounts for 72 percent of removals in the category of exudates, such as tannin extract and raw lacquer, followed by Viet Nam. In the category of plant raw materials for medicinal and aromatic uses, India accounts for half of reported global removals, mainly consisting of medicinal plants and spices. India also has a 42 percent share of total removals in the category of other plant products, such as tendu leaves and lac, followed by Brazil and Mexico.
For the remaining categories of NWFPs, information was provided by a limited number of countries, so calculation of regional totals is not meaningful. However, some particular aspects may be highlighted.
Fodder removals were reported by only 16 countries. Nevertheless, those countries reported very large quantities, particularly in Asia, indicating that this is a very important product category, however severely under-reported. Raw materials for utensils, crafts and construction, such as bamboo and rattan, were reported in large quantities from countries such as India and Myanmar. Ornamental plants – Christmas trees among them – were reported in large quantities from a number of European countries.
Among animal products, a few African and European countries reported large quantities of live animals, hides, skins and trophies, as well as wild honey and beeswax. The reported figures for edible animals (game and bushmeat) are concentrated in Europe, with 98 percent of the global total. It is well known, however, that bushmeat is an important source of food in many African countries, but these reported very few figures.
Increasing trends are seen for food and exudates, while both increases and decreases are seen for raw materials of medicines and aromatics and for other plant products. The increase seen between 1990 and 2000 appears to have slowed in recent years, although this may be due to the limited data available and the use by some countries of figures for 2000 as estimates for 2005.
The Forest Products Industry in Nigeria
The forest products industry in Nigeria was one of the most developed within the Nigerian economy in the 1960‘s to the early 1970‘s. During this period, export of wood products and agricultural commodities provided more than 70% of the country‘s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However, the oil glut of the 70‘s led to gregarious exploitation of round logs for export until its ban in 1976. The over exploitation of the wood resources has impacted negatively on the development of the forest products industry. This, coupled with several other factors such as old age of equipment, etc; has resulted in the dwindling fortune of the country‘s forest industry.
The present public forest estate which was acquired between 1900 and 1970 embraces 100,000 km or 11% of the total land of the country. Only about 26% of this is in the high forest area. It is estimated that an additional 90,000km2 of high forest is available outside the forest reserves. The forest resources have served as an engine of growth and propelled economic activities in Nigeria as far back as 1792 when pit sawing operation commenced, followed by the establishment of a power sawmill in the Delta area in 1902 (Aribisala, 1993). These developments led to a substantial increase in wood exploitation for utilization in domestic industries and for export. Wood export peaked in 1950‘s with log and sawn wood and subsequently, veneer and plywood. This trend was maintained and sustained in the 1960‘s and early 1970‘s. However, by mid 1970‘s, the toll of intensive exploitation has started showing and volume of wood export which peaked at 700,000m3 in 1964, decreased steadily to 290,000m3 in 1970 (Aribisala, 1993).
Among the factors that led to the reduction in forest resources availability is intensive exploitation of the resources.
Some forest industries specialized in wood resources are  ;
Sawmill industries
Furniture industries
Particle board mills
Plywood mills
Matches
Logging companies
Pulp industries
Some forest industries specialized in non woody resources are;
Herbal factories
Pharmacy industries
Fruits and food processing industries
Energy farming
Rubber production

Species of trees that produce forest raw materials are ;
teak
Jatropha
Bamboo
Acacia nilotica
Bombax spp.
Pine
Spruce
Birch

FOREST ESTABLISHMENT (SILVICULTURE)
Silviculture is the practice of controlling the establishment, growth, composition, health, and quality of forests to meet diverse needs and values. The name comes from the Latin silvi- (forest) + culture (as in growing). The study of forests and woods is termed silvology. Silviculture also focuses on making sure that the treatment(s) of forest stands are used to preserve and to better their productivity. Generally, silviculture is the science and art of growing and tending forest crops, based on a knowledge of silvics, i.e., the study of the life history and general characteristics of forest trees and stands, with particular reference to locality factors. More particularly, silviculture is the theory and practice of controlling the establishment, composition, constitution, and growth of forests. No matter how forestry as a science is constituted, the kernel of the business of forestry is silviculture, as it includes direct action in the forest, and in it all economic objectives and technical considerations ultimately converge. The kernel of silviculture is regeneration.



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