Demand for wood and wood products in India continues to grow due to the country's increasing population and economic development. These products are considered "carbon neutral or even carbon negative" in terms of production, processing, use, recycling, and disposal at the end of their useful lives.Such value added products can contribute significantly to the "circular bio-economy" by reducing energy consumption and carbon footprints by cutting down on non-renewable buildings.
Wood-based industries in the country are diversified, and so far most of the raw materials grown outside forests, mainly under agro-forestry systems (e.g., eucalyptus, poplar, silver oak, casuarina, etc.), are being grown and/or utilized by the pulp, paper, and panel industries. With the significant growth predicted for the paper and panel industries, the supply of raw materials in the future is also uncertain. On the other hand, furniture, handicrafts, and other sectors have not received much attention or priority with regard to the supply of raw materials or the development of tree improvement programs focusing on their needs.
For example, furniture and handicraft based in Saharanpur and Jodhpur are mainly utilizing Mango, Shisham and Acacias and the long-term supply of these species is unpredictable. There is also a disconnect between research institutes, farmers, industry, and other stakeholders. These situations result in over exploitation of a few species and unsustainable wood utilization, which results in a loss of income and enthusiasm for farmers to plant trees, a shortage of raw materials for industry, and higher import bills.
India is a diverse country with a wide variety of underutilized tree species due to lack of awareness about their potential uses. Thus, there is a strong need to identify and prioritize tree species with potential to meet the demand of wood-based industries. To address this issue and celebrate the International Day of Forests along with World Wood Day on 21st March 2023, ICFRE Institute of Wood Science & Technology in Bengaluru organized a virtual interactive session on "Prioritization for Promotion of Tree Species for Sustainable Utilization.
The program was chaired by Mr A. S. Rawat, DG, ICFRE, co-chaired by Mr B. K. Singh, ADGF (Forestry), MoEF&CC; Dr M. P. Singh, Director, ICFRE-IWST; and Speaker Mr B. S. Chandrashekar, Scientist, ICFRE-IWST .
Mr A.S. Rawat, DG, ICFRE, addressing the audience, raised the issue of a lack of funding for research and development work on new species. He said, "The long-rotation species certainly meet the demand of furniture industry, handicrafts, etc. We should have focused on increasing the quality while also increasing the quantity. The research organization is functioning to carry out research but is lacking at some point in terms of the availability of funds. We are getting some support from paper and related industries, but we don’t have support from the plywood and panel industries." "If there is a consortium that can support the research activities, certainly we can do a lot. I hope there will be a certain amount of deliberation among the researchers and industrialists to build a roadmap for certain materials in terms of quality as well as quantity," he added.
Mr B. S. Chandrashekar, Scientist at ICFRE-IWST, in his PPP presentation on the topic "Technical Presentation on "Tree Species for Wood Utilization Improvement and Promotion for Cultivation," talked about select wood species, their quality, volume, density, rotation period, and advantages that have been considered by the institute. In his conversation, he also said, "Wood is the most sustainable material on earth because of its renewability. Wooden products are considered as "carbon neutral or even carbon negative" in terms of production, processing, use, recycling, and disposal at the end of service life.”
He added, “Such value-added products can contribute significantly to the "circular bioeconomy" by reducing energy consumption and carbon footprints. The use of more and more wood can be a positive step towards achieving Mission LiFE." On furniture and handicrafts, he said, "India is going to be one of the major global hubs