• The paper industry does not destroy forests.

• The paper industry is not responsible for the depletion of tropical forests.

• The paper industry supports sustainable forest management.

Bread from grain, milk from cows, paper from wood - all renewable raw materials. Around 20 per cent of the timber felled throughout the world is used to make paper. But the paper industry does not saw off the branch it is sitting on. It is very much in its interests that this raw material can be used sustainably and will remain available as a raw material to future generations.

Sustainability means that every tree that is felled should be replaced by three or four new ones. Over the years, thinning operations weed out the weaker trees, but there is still a net gain. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reckons that there is an annual forest growth of 5 per cent in the northern hemisphere, equivalent in Europe alone to the area of 1.5 million football pitches.

Managed forests have been used for centuries in northern Europe as a raw material source. Practically all of the remaining primeval forest areas are protected. In Germany, for example, forests have been sustainably managed for two hundred years. Even in countries with large natural forest reserves, such as Russia or Canada, felling represents only a fraction of annual new growth. Sustainability involves economic, environmental and social considerations. Modern forest management uses forests as a supplier of raw materials without adversely affecting their function as a biosphere. Forest management methods therefore vary from place to place.

The situation in the southern hemisphere is more critical. According to the FAO report State of the World’s Forests 2009, the continuing destruction of forests there results from the uncontrolled development of further arable and grazing land, illegal felling of tropical timber for building, or forest clearance to create plantations for food or energy crops such as oil palms or soya. In countries like Brazil there are huge eucalyptus plantations for the pulp industry. However, these have been planted on former agricultural land that was no longer productive enough for farming.

The paper industry supports certification as a way of documenting sustainable forest management. Certificates based on defined criteria issued by independent auditors make this verifiable for customers and consumers. For the paper industry, the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes (PEFC) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) in particular offer effective and plausible certification. There are also forests that have long been sustainably managed without certification, however.

The European Paper Industry has committed itself to fight illegal logging. Results are documented by regular monitorings. In Germany paper companies have documented, that 100 percent of the imported wood and up to know 84 percent of the imported pulp can be identified by certificates as of legal and sustainable origin. Intenational studies like the Chatham house report on Illegal logging show, that measures like this have been contributing to reduce illegal logging.