European Parliament, Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development Exchange of views with experts Presentation by Mr Mikko Ohela, Vice President, Public Affairs, Metsäliitto Group

Achievements on environmental field - time to focus on economic and social sustainability

When reviewing the period since the adoption of the 1998 strategy, the focus in European forestry has been much in the environmental field. And the EU has been successful there, too.
Now, in the next phase, it would be time focus more on the economic and social pillars of sustainability. In the European private forest-ownership conditions, these two go very much hand in hand.
The best way to foster economic sustainability is to help the markets take care of it. This requires some removal of hindrances.
Europe has the potential to use more wood.
- only 55% of our annual growth is used
The consumption of wood per capita in Europe is only Ą to ˝ of that in North America (North America 0.8 m3, Western Europe 0.3-0.4 m3, eastern Europe 0.1-0.2 m3).
The difference results mainly from construction - the Americans build more wooden houses.
In Europe, we have the traditions, construction regulations and illusions (e.g. on fire safety) that hinder the use of wood in construction.
The education system is a bottle-neck - from architects to engineers and construction workers; wood is an unfamiliar material and there is not enough training on how it can be used. For professionals, it is simply easier to select materials that they are more familiar with.
So, there are very concrete points for action:
- education of construction professionals including architects
- review of construction and construction products regulations
- information campaigns to the public on the benefits of wood – the real characteristics of wood