Tag: Forestry

We quite rightly talk about the importance of planting trees. We talk about their role in absorbing carbon, protecting biodiversity and supporting healthy landscapes. These are important conversations. However, after many years working in forestry and the bioeconomy, I have come to believe that we sometimes make the relationship between people and trees sound shallower than it really is.

What we wear every day is the result of a global supply chain that few people ever see. That chain often begins far earlier than most realise and increasingly raises questions about the materials used to make our clothes. In many cases, it starts - believe it or not - in a forest plantation. Not in an abstract sense, but quite literally. Wood grown in South African forest plantations is processed into dissolving wood pulp. Producers export that pulp, and manufacturers convert it into fibre elsewhere. They eventually turn that fibre into fabric