Global Forestry Industry

Heidi Zuwail, [26.01.16 03:46]

Introduction

Global forestry Industry

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Forestry is the science or practice of planting, managing, and caring for forests. (Oxford English Dictionary 2014). Forestry is mainly based on a system that manages forests to provide environmental supplies and services; that system has to fulfill two aspects; the social acceptance and the sustainment of the resource and any other resources that might be affected. While the public demand for wood products continues to increase globally, a lot of issues are still facing forestry around the world, for example; indigenous rights, recreation, watershed management, and preservation of wilderness, waterways and wildlife habitat as well as the huge arguments regarding forest fires and many other issues that drives a lot of debate.

According to a recent study made by (Mery G, Katila P, Galloway G, Alfaro R, Kanninen M, Lobovikov M and Varjo J,(eds.)2010,P137:145) global forestry industries and forest products are undergone major changes because of a number of factors including globalization, climate change, rising energy prices and the most recent problem represented in the financial crises. In addition there are other reasons that consider being direct forces of change such as shifting consumption and capacity investment growth from Europe and North America to Asia and Latin America. For example, China, a country that was a major net importer of wood products, is now considered as an exporter of value-added wood products. Other direct forces include some policies, such as promotion of wood, subsidies, or taxing alternative materials, would strengthen demand and utilization of wood. Today Forest industry is depending on a very well managed and planted forests located in South America, Africa, and Asia. These changes reduced the connection between forest processing facilities and industry location with abundant natural forests. The reallocation of the forest industry’s production capacity is associated with the role of mergers and acquisitions, and quickly increased foreign direct investment in the forest industry since the 1990s.The importance of foreign direct investment in the development of forest industries in the world’s emerging producer countries has been increasing. There is a relatively close relationship between foreign trade and foreign direct investment; both supersede or complement each other with rather market-seeking, resource-seeking, or efficiency-seeking motives.

Trade liberalization and the increasing of foreign investment in the global forestry industry are expected to highly influence the future development of forest products markets. Climate change and rising energy prices also increased the level of environmental and social awareness, which may affect production and consumption; it will also influence the supply of wood and wood-based products, as well as forest management. In the future, it is likely that the opposition of the forest industry between the North and South will continue.

Current state of the Tasmanian forestry industry

Tasmania, formerly Van Diemen’s Land, island state of Australia. It lies about 150 miles (240 km) south of the state of Victoria (Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.2014). According to (The Forest Industries Association of Tasmania.2010). Tasmania's forest and wood products industry employs approximately 6,300 people and contributes between $1.4-1.6 billion annually to the State's economy. Half of Tasmania is covered with forests that are classified into public and private forests.

Tasmanian forests are appreciated for their environmental, social and economic values. According to (Forest