The Rising Demand for Wood
If we assume that there will be no future increase in the average per capita use of wood and that it remains at O.6m3 per person per year, the increase in the global population alone (expected to be ten billion by the middle of the new century) will require at least two billion m3 more wood each year than can be supplied from those forests existing at the end of the twentieth century. Globally, an additional 100 million hectares of very productive managed plantations will be required to meet even this conservative increased demand projection.
A global population of 10 billion using an average of 0.6 m3 of wood per person per year would require an annual global wood harvest of 6 billion m3 per year. This represents an increase of 2.5 billion m3 more than the 3.5 billion m3 annual global wood harvest of the mid 1990s. Furthermore, attempts to halt the illegal trade of logs and to promote value-added processing of timber in tropical countries will continue to reduce the volume of tropical industrial round wood.
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