Symbiosis can be defined as a mutually beneficial relationship. Can there be a symbiotic
relationship between forest products and the environment? If there is symbiosis of forest
products and the environment, human beings are central to the process. Historically
forests have always played a significant role in the human environment. At one end of
the relationship, forests help provide the oxygen in the air we breathe, as well as basic
needs of shelter, food, and fuel. On the other end of the relationship, a healthy
environment with little pollution, fewer weather extremes, and a reduction in forest fires,
can advance the use of forest products. Over time the relationship between forest
products use and environment has changed. As human population has significantly
increased, we have begun to look at the need for a positive, sustainable relationship of
forest products use in the human environment.
How important is the forest to the human environment? Forests cover about 30 percent,
3.9 trillion hectares, of the total land area of the world. Each hectare averages about 110
metric tons of biomass from which 6.6 billion of the world’s people consume a significant
variety of products. As our world population and forest products consumption continues
to grow, the symbiotic relationship between forest products and the environment becomes
more complex.
There are several critical contemporary issues related to forest products and the
environment. For example, the use of wood to provide energy is a worldwide need, since
about half the wood consumed in the world provides energy—from fuel for a wood stove
to input for an electric power plant. The use of forest products can also play a role in the
sequestering of carbon to ameliorate climate change and reduction of forest fire risk.
Finally, the use of wood compared to other raw materials, can have an environmental
advantage.
The continued beneficial relationship between the use of forest products and a healthy
human environment should be a focus of research in wood science and forest products.