Forest Products in the Global Bioeconomy: Enabling Substitution by Wood-Based Products and Contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals

By Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

This report addresses the role of forest products in replacing fossil-based and GHG-intensive products. The overarching objective is to provide recommendations to strengthen the contribution of substitution by forest products to sustainable development. To that end, this report firstly provides an overview of the understanding of the bioeconomy and the role of forest products across the world. Secondly, we present examples of conventional and innovative forest products and describe their role in the bioeconomy. Thirdly, we present a review of the quantitative and qualitative understanding of the environmental impacts and benefits of substituting fossil fuel-based or -intensive products with forest-based products, and of the contribution of substitution to SDGs. Fourthly, we outline the current understanding of the future global demand and supply dynamics of forest products and the potential impact that increased substitution may have on these dynamics. Fifthly, we identify gaps in the global forest product value chain. Finally, it provides recommendations and conclusions, respectively.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
• Release date: Apr 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9789251359921

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

An intergovernmental organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has 194 Member Nations, two associate members and one member organization, the European Union. Its employees come from various cultural backgrounds and are experts in the multiple fields of activity FAO engages in. FAO’s staff capacity allows it to support improved governance inter alia, generate, develop and adapt existing tools and guidelines and provide targeted governance support as a resource to country and regional level FAO offices. Headquartered in Rome, Italy, FAO is present in over 130 countries.Founded in 1945, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO provides a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy. The Organization publishes authoritative publications on agriculture, fisheries, forestry and nutrition.

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1Introduction

The global economy has been growing rapidly in recent decades. While the economic growth achieved has contributed to human prosperity and well-being, it has also led to the depletion of natural resources and services (Bongaarts, 2019), which raises the question about its sustainability. According to the International Resource Panel (IRP, 2020), the quantity of natural resources, such as biomass, fossil fuels, metal ores and minerals, extracted yearly increased twelvefold between 1900 and 2015. Nowadays, 74 percent of humankind’s consumption is based on non-renewable natural resources, whose extraction, transportation, processing, use and disposal can cause major impacts on the environment, climate and biodiversity (IRP, 2020). Under existing trends, the global extraction of natural resources is estimated to increase from 84 billion to 184 billion tonnes per year between 2015 and 2050, going hand in hand with a considerable increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Hatfield-Dodds et al., 2017; IRP, 2020; Schandl et al., 2018).

There is a growing understanding that we need to rethink the underpinning economic system to address the root causes of unsustainable natural resource use and achieve sustainable development. In the last decade or so, the concept of bioeconomy has gained importance and prominence as a means of tackling challenges such as the overconsumption of and overreliance on non-renewable natural resources (Aguilar, Twardowski and Wohlgemuth, 2019; Bell et al., 2018; Birner, 2018; El-Chichakli et al., 2016). While many definitions exist, the bioeconomy is generally considered to relate to the use of biological resources. Bio-based products can be substituted for fossil-based resources to produce energy, food, feed, fibre and other manufactured goods, and the application of biological processes (i.e. biotechnology) for manufacturing goods. The development of the sustainable bioeconomy is seen as one way of reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (El-Chichakli et al., 2016; Heimann, 2019) that were adopted by the world’s leaders in 2015 and that aim to free humanity from poverty, secure a healthy planet for future generations, and build peaceful, inclusive societies as a foundation for ensuring lives of dignity for all.

Understanding of the concept of bioeconomy is evolving. While the earlier understanding focused more narrowly on resource substitution, natural capital and biotechnology (Birner, 2018; D’Amato et al., 2017), more recently, understanding of the concept has broadened to encompass sustainability, services and circular economy aspects (European Commission, 2018b; Global Bioeconomy Summit, 2020; Hetemäki et al., 2017; Palahí et al., 2020). Particularly with respect to circularity, the bioeconomy concept has been linked with a related concept of circular economy (Hetemäki et al., 2017), which focuses on processes for decoupling resource use and economic output and highlighting the end-of-life stage of a product as opposed to traditional linear economic models that assume infinite supply of resources (D’Amato et al., 2017; Reichel, De Schoenmakere and Gillabel, 2016). A circular bioeconomy can provide a conceptual framework for using renewable natural capital to transform and manage land, food, health, and industrial systems holistically with the goal of achieving sustainable well-being in harmony with nature (Palahí et al., 2020). Forests and forestry form a core part of the bioeconomy. Forests are natural systems that provide a multitude of ecosystem goods and services, such as raw materials, climate regulation, carbon storage, biodiversity, and various non-wood forest products (NWFPs), which constitute important contributions to economy (Salzman et al., 2018). With increasing societal pressure to reduce GHG emissions and greater demand for more renewable and sustainable products, part of the forest industry is moving towards the production of new bio-based products that can meet these demands (Hurmekoski et al., 2018; Lettner et al., 2018) This change is shaped by new technologies and products that aim to decrease the carbon footprint of products and processes, while tackling pollution and waste generation. Such products can include textiles, wood-based composites, fuels, chemicals, and packaging (Hurmekoski et al., 2018; Kröger, 2016; Sahoo et al., 2019; Stern et al., 2018). The forest sector has significantly contributed to the development of these clean technologies and bio-based products that have high potential for substituting fossil-based materials (Hetemäki et al., 2017; MacRae and Harnett, 2019; Nighbor, 2018).

In the context of climate change, the forest-based sector can contribute to climate change mitigation through (i) carbon storage in forest biomass and soil; (ii) carbon storage in wood products; and (iii) material substitution. When wood is harvested and products made from it, carbon remains stored in these products depending on their end use and lifetime. The contribution to climate change mitigation achieved through carbon storage in wood-based products can be increased by expanding the quantity of these products through additional harvest (Johnston and Radeloff, 2019; Pilli, Fiorese and Grassi, 2015) and by extending the products’ lifetime and increasing recycling or cascade use (Brunet-Navarro, Jochheim and Muys, 2017; Jasinevičius et al., 2017; Xu et al., 2018). The contribution to climate change mitigation through material substitution involves the use of wood for different applications, such as buildings or textiles, instead of other materials (e.g. concrete, steel, plastics and synthetic fibres) to avoid or reduce GHG emissions associated with the production, use and disposal of the products (Geng et al., 2017; Leskinen et al., 2018; Sathre and O’Connor, 2010). In addition to wood-based products, other forest products can also play an important role in a functioning bioeconomy. For example, NWFPs and fuelwood are very important for people’s subsistence in many parts of the world (Angelsen et al., 2014; FAO, 2014; Lovrić et al., 2020). In fact, about half of the world roundwood production goes to fuelwood rather than industrial (material) purposes (FAOSTAT, 2020).

This report addresses the role of forest products in replacing fossil-based and GHG-intensive products and explores ways of increasing the contribution of substitution by forest products to sustainable development. To that end, the report first reviews understanding of the bioeconomy and the role of forest products across the world (Chapter 2). Second, it presents examples of conventional and innovative forest products and describes their role in the bioeconomy (Chapters 3 and 4). Third, it examines the quantitative and qualitative understanding of the environmental impacts and benefits of substituting fossil-based or GHG-intensive products with forest products, and of the contribution made by substitution to achieving SDGs (Chapter 5). Fourth, the report outlines current understanding of the future global supply and demand dynamics of forest products and the potential impacts that increased substitution may have on these dynamics (Chapter 6). Fifth, it identifies gaps in the global forest product value chain (Chapter 7) and finally, Chapter 8 provides key conclusions and recommendations.

2Status of country efforts related to a forest-based bioeconomy

The bioeconomy can be defined and interpreted in many different ways. The International Advisory Council on Global Bioeconomy (2020) defined the bioeconomy as "the production, utilization, conservation, and regeneration of biological resources, including related knowledge, science, technology, and innovation, to provide sustainable solutions (information, products, processes and services) within and across all economic sectors and enable a transformation to a sustainable economy". A common feature in the many definitions of the bioeconomy is that they relate to the use of biological resources, which can be used to substitute fossil-based resources for producing energy, food, feed, fibre, and other manufactured goods. This chapter introduces the understanding of the bioeconomy and the role of forest products around the world. It describes the efforts made by several countries or regional economic integration organizations, which were selected to cover different parts of the world, considering the importance of their forest sector and the different governance systems. A summary of the key characteristics of bioeconomy efforts is provided in Table 2.1, while more detailed profiles are provided in Appendix