Timber Factfile
Britain imports 85% of its timber, primarily from a top 10 list of countries, all of whom have established regulated forest management programmes. Britain is aiming to increase its own forest cover from 10% to 15% of the land surface. Timber has one of the lowest embodied energy values of any material. Timber is naturally low in thermal conductivity, and an excellent insulator. It is 15 times better as an insulator than concrete, 400 times better than steel and 1770 times better than aluminium. A 2.5cm timber board has better thermal resistance than an 11.4cm brick wall. If all homes built in Britain since 1945 had been constructed to modern timber-frame standards, there would have been a reduction of more than 300 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. Hardwood belongs to the 'flowering' plant group - the angiosperms. Most of these are deciduous, which means that they lose their mainly soft, flat leaves in autumn. There are two general categories of hardwoods: temperate, generally from Europe and North America; and tropical, from central and south America, Africa, India, south-east Asia and Australasia. Softwood belong to a group called gymnosperms - plants with 'naked seeds' (mainly cones), often with needle like leaves which are kept in winter. Many species are fast growing and some are able to thrive in poor soils. Natural softwoods are found mainly in a broad belt stretching across North America, Scandinavia, Russia and Siberia. Planted softwoods can be found almost anywhere. The further north the softwood tree grows, the slower its growth rate, meaning the growth rings are closer together. Forestry related industries employ over 45,000 people in the UK. Oceans cover more than 70% of the earth's surface, and nearly a third of the remainder are forested. 80% of all tropical timber used is burned as fuelwood.
Russia's forests are expanding by volume 670 million cubic metres annually, while the annual cut is 490 cubic metres. Canada plants two trees for every one it cuts down. 71% of Malaysia is under trees. Satellite pictures show deforestation of the Amazon has dropped for the third year running. Britain's forests now produce more than 20% of our timber requirements.