“Political decision makers and society at large, even members of the sector itself, are not sufficiently aware of the economic importance of the forestry and wood cluster,” president of the European Panel Federation Ladislaus Döry has told MEPs.
Mr Döry was addressing a meeting for MEPs called “Wood: The key to a socio-economic sustainable development” at their Brussels headquarters to highlight the importance of the sector.
He said European wood resources were growing by 800 million m3 a year, “more than twice as high as current felling”, due to sustainable production methods.
However, Mr Döry said the industry faced problems and constraints, including the “misguided promotion of energy generation from biomass at the expense of recycling”. He called for a reasonable policy to promote the use of energy from biomass.
Paul Rübig MEP, keynote speaker at the November 22 event, said the European woodworking industry accounted for 1.4% of total employment in the EU15, providing jobs to nearly three million people and a turnover of about €154bn.
Other speakers included Frans Vollenbroek of the EC Directorate General for Environment, who spoke on a “thematic strategy on the sustainable use of natural resources”, and Stefaan Vanthourenhout of the European Federation of Builders and Woodworkers who outlined the socio-economic role of the woodworking industries.
The meeting concluded with a discussion, chaired by editor of TTJ sister magazine Wood Based Panels International Mike Botting, in which the issue of biomass versus wood use in building and woodworking proved to be the main, and contentious, issue.
