Wood in the frame for construction

On balance, the smart money is on timber for building,

BUILDING and construction is one of the sectors causing the most significant depletion of the Earth’s natural resources and accounts for about a third of total greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. To help counteract this, the Make It Wood Campaign, which started in 2011, aims to increase the use of responsibly sourced wood as a building material.

There are three main reasons why using responsibly sourced, certified wood as a building material actually helps tackle climate change:

Wood is the only major building material that is renewable – the ultimate renewable;

As trees grow they sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. As a result of this about half of the dry weight of wood is carbon – biogenic carbon – which is stored for as long as the building exists, and

Timber consumes minimal energy in its production – often referred to as embodied carbon – so it can be used as a low-emission substitute for materials that require larger amounts of fossil fuels to be produced, such as concrete and steel.

A key requirement is to use certified timber, sourced from native forests or plantations.

Forest certification has developed as a way to authenticate implementation of sustainable forest management practices.

To have a forest certified as being sustainably managed, an audit is done by an independent, third party certification body. The audit assesses forest management practices of a forest manager or owner against the standard for certification.

The two major global forest certification bodies are the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Both the PEFC and FSC are globally recognised forest certification networks that provide for the mutual recognition of regional and national standards that meet their criteria for sustainable forest management.

Here in Australia, forest managers and owners have the option of certifying their forests under the Australian Forest Certification Scheme (AFCS), which is recognised under the PEFC, or the FSC.

The AFCS uses the Responsible Wood Standard as the relevant standard for certifying forest management. Similarly, FSC introduced a national FSC Standard for Australia in late 2018.

In addition to the environmental benefits, we also know that wood is good for our health and wellbeing — it effectively helps to bring the benefits of time spent in nature into the built environment — and can reduce stress responses, including lower blood pressure and heart rate.

Increasing urbanisation rates mean that people have less access to nature in their daily lives and Australians on average now spend over 90 per cent of their time indoors. This disconnect with nature and the outdoors corresponds with reports of rising levels of obesity and nearly half of Australians experiencing a mental health condition within their lifetime.

The health and happiness benefits associated with spending time outside in nature are well known and reported on by Planet Ark previously. This love of time in nature has been termed biophilia and explains our innate need to connect with the natural world.

This relationship can be extended into the built environment where we live, work, rest and play. A wide body of research from the international scientific community has repeatedly identified that the increased use of wood in furniture, fittings and structures has measurable physiological and psychological health benefits.

We now know that workers are less stressed and more productive, students learn better, patients heal faster, and people are generally happier and calmer in spaces that contain natural elements like wood. Researchers have also reported people experiencing higher levels of self-esteem, improved cognitive function and decreased blood pressure, when exposed to natural elements like wood in their built environment.

Another key focus of the Make It Wood campaign is the adoption of Wood Encouragement Policies (WEPs) throughout Australia. A WEP generally requires responsibly sourced wood to be considered, where feasible, as the primary construction material in all new-build and refurbishment projects.

There are now two Local Government Authorities, two states (Tasmania and Western Australia) and 18 councils that have adopted a WEP in Australia.

Responsibly sourced, certified timber has clear health and happiness benefits, as well as being a weapon in the struggle against climate change by both storing carbon and reducing carbon emissions.

David Rowlinson is nonexecutive director of Planet Ark Environmental Foundation, an Australian not-for-profit organisation with a vision of a world where people live in balance with nature. Established in 1992, Planet Ark seeks to help people, governments, schools and businesses reduce their impact on the environment in three key areas: by promoting sustainable resource use for a circular economy; supporting low carbon lifestyles; and connecting people with nature.