{"id":40901,"date":"2017-06-22T07:12:30","date_gmt":"2017-06-22T07:12:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.geoplastglobal.com\/?p=40901"},"modified":"2018-06-08T12:37:12","modified_gmt":"2018-06-08T12:37:12","slug":"wooden-formworks-are-not-sustainable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.geoplastglobal.com\/en\/blog\/wooden-formworks-are-not-sustainable\/","title":{"rendered":"Timber formwork is not sustainable"},"content":{"rendered":"Human societies around the world have used timber as a building material for thousands of years. As wood is the only significant biological building material we are naturally inclined to believe that using wood in construction is good for the environment.\r\n\r\nAs a matter of fact the environmental benefits of using timber are not straightforward: although it is a natural product, a large amount of energy<\/strong> is used to dry and process it. Much of this can come from the biomass of the tree itself, but that requires investment in plant, which is not always possible in an industry that is widely distributed among many small producers.\r\n\r\nWood is also a major driver of deforestation<\/strong>. About a third<\/strong> of wood extracted from natural forests\u00a0worldwide is used for timber products.\u00a0In the countries that account for most of the deforestation, wood products contribute\u00a0about 10%<\/strong>\u00a0of the total. Forests\u2014especially tropical forests\u2014store enormous amounts of carbon. When forests are destroyed, that carbon is released into the atmosphere, accelerating global warming<\/strong>. Deforestation accounts for around 10%<\/strong> of total heat-trapping emissions\u2014roughly the same as the yearly emissions from 600 million cars.\r\n\r\nWhen not causing deforestation, timber production drives forest degradation<\/strong> through selective logging, where the more valuable tree species are removed from the forest. This can be more damaging than it sounds: the selective logging of one tree can damage 10 to 20<\/strong> surrounding trees. Selective logging also\u00a0makes a forest more vulnerable\u00a0to fire and other threats and may change its suitability as habitat for some species.\u00a0Selective logging can also be the first step toward deforestation: degraded forests are more likely than intact forests to be\u00a0targeted for conversion to other uses.\r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\nDespite these considerations, wood remains widely used in the building industry, especially in the Formwork sector<\/strong>. Timber Formworks, in addition to the above mentioned environmental issues, have some disadvantages:\r\n