Timber cut and prepared primarily for the manufacture of wood pulp and for further processing to make paper or reconstituted wood product such as fibreboard.
How are forests & wood products helping to tackle climate change?
Australia’s annual greenhouse gas emissions were estimated at 597 million tonnes CO2-e in 2007 (CSIRO, 2009). But, if urgent measures to reduce emissions from the energy sector and other abatement measures are not taken, Australia’s emissions are projected to increase to 690 million tonnes CO2-e by 2020 (DECCEE, 2010).
Australian forests have a critical role to play in climate change abatement because they sequester carbon. It’s estimated that Australian forests sequester approximately 57 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year – this is the equivalent of offsetting around 10% of all greenhouse gases emitted in Australia (DAFF, 2008).
Wood products play an important role in addressing climate change. Carbon constitutes approximately 50% the dry weight of trees and when wood from these trees is used in construction, the carbon is stored for the life of the product. This may vary from up to 80 years in homes, around 30 years in furniture and 6 years in pallets and paper.
Carbon stored in wood is only released back to the atmosphere when the wood is burnt or undergoes decay. Compare this to construction steel which contains only 0.2 - 1.5% of carbon and is a large net emitter of carbon in the mining, processing, manufacturing, and application process.
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Forestry Matters!Forestry matters! is a free, comprehensive education resource that provides teachers with relevant, up-to-date information about South Australia’s forests. |
To download this file
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The carbon cycle.Charts and information on the carbon cycle. |
To download this file
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Trees for carbon sequestrationThis factsheet discusses what is carbon sequestration, how to estimate carbon sequestration, carbon accounting and more. |
To download this file
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Forests and Carbon - Grow, Harvest StoreUse this poster to explain the the carbon cycle. |
To download this file
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The pine plantation rotationWhat happens in a pine plantation rotation from 0 years- 35years. Find out through this poster resource. |
To download this file
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Carbon and its storage in forest and wood productsClass activities on carbon, cycling & storage. |
To download this file
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Forestry Matters!Forestry matters! is a free, comprehensive education resource that provides teachers with relevant, up-to-date information about South Australia’s forests. |
To download this file
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Forests, timber and climate change- Factsheet and WorksheetWorksheet and factsheet to guide discussion on forests, timber and the greenhouse effect. |
To download this file
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Planet Ark - Schools Tree dayEach year in July, around 2500 schools across Australia take part in Schools Tree Day. Students nation-wide have learnt how to plant, and care for the seedlings they grow. Become involved. |
To view this link
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Tackle climate change, use woodThis website provides a downloadable video and information book on how using wood helps tackle climate change, produced by the British Columbian Forestry Climate Change Working Group in Canada. It discusses how wood products store carbon for the life of a product, and if used as a substitute to replace fossil fuel intensive materials such as concrete and steel, it helps reduce the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. Wood is a renewable, recyclable, and sustainable natural product for the long term. |
To view this link
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The carbon converters - carbon dioxide to woodDiscover more about the amazing process of converting CO2. |
To download this file
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Tree tape for kidsA downloadable tree measuring tape for children which translates how much CO2 absorbed in the tree into the amount of activities rather than grams of CO2, e.g. 1 hour on a flight or 2 days of breathing. |
To view this link
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Wild Forest Adventure Activity BookWild Forest Adventure is an activity based companion booklet especially designed for use with the Forests NSW website. |
To download this file
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Wild Forest Adventure online gameThe Wild Forest Adventure section has been especially designed for students, to provide interesting and relevant information about the forest environment, in a stimulating and fun way. |
To view this link
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Climate change and forestryDiscover more about climate change and forestry at LandLearn NSW. |
To view this link
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Forestry Matters! websiteForestry matters! is a free, comprehensive education resource that provides teachers with relevant, up-to-date information about South Australia’s forests. |
To view this link
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Going Bush - Forest's role in the carbon equationThe boys talk to a trio of carbon specialists about the part forests and its products can play in the fight against global warming. They see how it’s measured in Victoria’s Wombat Forest and hear how storage of carbon in forests should be compared to a dam, with inputs from growing trees and regular withdrawals especially for timber to replace fossil-fuel intensive materials, rather than simply locked away. |
To watch this video |
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Planet Ark - Schools Tree dayEach year in July, around 2500 schools across Australia take part in Schools Tree Day. Students nation-wide have learnt how to plant, and care for the seedlings they grow. Become involved. |
To view this link
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Planet Ark's Make It Wood - Do Your World Some GoodThis website developed by Planet Ark provides a wealth of information regarding sustainably sourced timber. |
To view this link
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Planet Ark's carbon sequestration videoVideo to showcase the role of trees in carbon sequestration, developed by Planet Ark |
To watch this video |
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Tackle climate change, use woodThis website provides a downloadable video and information book on how using wood helps tackle climate change, produced by the British Columbian Forestry Climate Change Working Group in Canada. It discusses how wood products store carbon for the life of a product, and if used as a substitute to replace fossil fuel intensive materials such as concrete and steel, it helps reduce the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. Wood is a renewable, recyclable, and sustainable natural product for the long term. |
To view this link
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Tree tape for kidsA downloadable tree measuring tape for children which translates how much CO2 absorbed in the tree into the amount of activities rather than grams of CO2, e.g. 1 hour on a flight or 2 days of breathing. |
To view this link
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Wood.Naturally BetterWood. Naturally Better.™ is a program designed to help professionals and consumers understand how they can play a part in tackling climate change by using one of the most natural materials – wood. |
To view this link
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Going Bush - Innovative ways of keeping the home fires burningWe investigate the future of timber production . not using a crystal ball but armed with Forestry Tasmania's Innovation Plan. The on-going challenge of getting more from less has Forestry Tasmania looking further into maximising returns from its resource by increasing recovery rates from logs and investigating a range of new engineered timber products and rayon production for clothing. |
To watch this video |
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Going Bush - Forest's role in the carbon equationThe boys talk to a trio of carbon specialists about the part forests and its products can play in the fight against global warming. They see how it’s measured in Victoria’s Wombat Forest and hear how storage of carbon in forests should be compared to a dam, with inputs from growing trees and regular withdrawals especially for timber to replace fossil-fuel intensive materials, rather than simply locked away. |
To watch this video |
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Going Bush - Planning for innovation in Tasmanian forest productsWe investigate the future of timber production not using a crystal ball but armed with Forestry Tasmania's Innovation Plan. The on-going challenge of getting more from less has Forestry Tasmania looking further into maximising returns from its resource by increasing recovery rates from logs and investigating a range of new engineered timber products and rayon production for clothing. |
To watch this video |
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Planet Ark's carbon sequestration videoVideo to showcase the role of trees in carbon sequestration, developed by Planet Ark |
To watch this video |
|
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Tackle climate change, use woodThis website provides a downloadable video and information book on how using wood helps tackle climate change, produced by the British Columbian Forestry Climate Change Working Group in Canada. It discusses how wood products store carbon for the life of a product, and if used as a substitute to replace fossil fuel intensive materials such as concrete and steel, it helps reduce the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. Wood is a renewable, recyclable, and sustainable natural product for the long term. |
To view this link
|
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Wild Forest Adventure online gameThe Wild Forest Adventure section has been especially designed for students, to provide interesting and relevant information about the forest environment, in a stimulating and fun way. |
To view this link
|
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Forest, wood and Australian carbon balanceInformation on the extend to which plantations and commerical forests, as well as the wood products produced by those forests, contribute to Australia's carbon balance. |
To download this file
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