PAPER AND DEFORESTATION

Three kinds forests are logged for their wood: old growth forests (natural forests, those that have “always been there”), secondary forests (those that have recovered from previous logging) and tree plantations. According to the FAO, in 2010, 36% of global forests were old-growth forests, 57% were secondary forests and the other 7% were tree plantations. In the Mediterranean, in 2010, 2% were old growth forests, 82% were Secondary forests and 16% were tree plantations.

In the last 20 years 3.2% of global total forest area has been lost (and within these totals, tree plantations have grown by 54%). But the loss of total forest is not the only problem; countries with lots of old growth forests are logging, which makes them secondary forests and degrades overall forest quality. And there are also countries where illegal logging is taking place (for example, in Russia).

How much of this logging is the result of paper consumption? Well, in 2000, 42% of the wood logged for industrial use went to make paper. 17% of this came from old growth forests, 54% from secondary forests and 29% from tree plantations.  This logging is responsible for deforestation in many countries, such as Indonesia, China, some places in Latin America, and the loss of old growth forests in others, such as Finland and Canada.  Tree farms have been created to increase the amount of forested land, but they are much poorer ecologically than natural forests. Nor do they complete many of the functions of a natural forest or absorb as much CO₂.

In the Mediterranean (above all in the European part) the paper industry specializes in pulping eucalyptus and pine to make paper, and these trees (or more specifically, varieties of these trees that are grown for pulp) are only grown in tree plantations. On top of it all, consumption of paper may be responsible for unsustainable logging, since not all of it is locally produced (a big part of it is imported). For example, in 2008, in Spain, 10% of pulp imports came from Canada and Finland; in France and Italy a bit more than 15% of imported wood came from these countries. Both Finland and Canada are countries where logging is responsible for the loss of old growth forests.