“Paper, in its countless forms, touches our lives every day and it’s a relationship that often goes unnoticed. We use it without a second thought – from our first cup of coffee and morning ablutions, to eating yoghurt, popping our vitamins or putting on lipstick.”

So says Jane Molony, executive director of the Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa (PAMSA) in the association’s inaugural progress report. “Paper products are an enabler. Without them many industries would not be able to convey their messages, ship their products and deliver their goods. As the basis for tissue, paper is a bathroom essential and helps to improve lives through personal hygiene. As a medium through which learning is facilitated, paper educates and informs,” she adds.

Telling the fibre story

PAMSA’s industry report, Paper in Perspective 2016, tells a number of stories – the economic story, the sustainability story and the recycling story. It also delves into PAMSA’s efforts in the education, training and research space, and entrepreneurship training for recycling collectors.

Presented in an easy-to-read format, facts are abundant. Did you know that South African paper makers’ forests are home to 600 million carbon-absorbing, oxygen-giving trees? Or that only 9% of a plantation is harvested a year and that on average 260,000 new saplings are planted every day to replace what has been harvested?

Paper in Perspective 2016 clearly highlights how wood, pulp and paper – collectively fibre-based materials – are not only renewable but that their cellulosic foundations are taking the industry into new frontiers.

Cellulose used as a fibre additive in food and as a preservative in processed foods. It can be applied in the manufacture of cellphone and laptop screens, as well as through nanotechnology in automobiles, aerospace, defence and medical science.

Sustainability at the centre

The foreword – penned by PAMSA chairman and CEO of Mondi South Africa Ron Traill – sets out in no uncertain terms the value of the industry to the South African economy. In 2015 alone, paper, pulp and other associated products contributed R28 billion to the local fiscus and a significant R4.5 billion to the country’s balance of trade.

Crucially, more than 150,000 people are currently employed in the value chain from tree planting to paper making and recycling. Encouragingly, an estimated 38,000 work formally or informally in the recycling sector.

Valuable reference document – available on paper and online

Paper in Perspective 2016 is a one-stop guide to the South African pulp and paper making industry, its members and the vast scope of their activities. As a reference document, it will be of great value to industry commentators, journalists, economists, educators, students of all ages and people considering making a career in a vibrant and technologically advanced industry with an exciting future.

Naturally the publication has been printed on certified, sustainably produced paper, but is also available for download – and desktop printing.

The post Sustainability at the centre of paper manufacturers’ inaugural report first appeared on The Paper Story (PAMSA).

In South Africa, 1.3 million hectares (ha) of pine and eucalyptus trees are sustainably managed for commercial processing into wood and paper products. Through modern science and nanotechnology, wood fibre – cellulose – is used in automobiles, aerospace, defence and even medicine.

While Arbor Week traditionally calls on all South Africans to plant indigenous trees as a practical and symbolic gesture of sustainable environmental management, timber plantations deserve due recognition for the benefits they bring to the economy, society and the environment.

Wood and paper products touch our lives every day and it’s a relationship that often goes unnoticed, unless we were to take those same products away. From furniture, roof trusses and timber poles to books, writing paper, magazines, as well as boxes and packaging in innumerable shapes and sizes.

“When we grasp that trees are farmed for commercial use, we are able to understand the important role they play,” says Forestry South Africa executive director Michael Peter. “Just like any agricultural crop, trees are planted, harvested and replanted to ensure a sustainable supply of wood. And like any crop, plantations have an impact on the environment.”

Such impacts, Peter explains, are offset by the carbon dioxide absorbed and oxygen released by trees, by the employment and development benefits which forestry brings to communities, and by the biodiversity that is conserved by land owners.

In commemoration of Arbor Week and the theme ‘Forests and Water’, Forestry South Africa shares the facts about timber plantations, water, biodiversity and people.

Plantations and water

• Plantations are not irrigated as trees get their water from rainfall. This means that there are none of the high costs associated with delivering water to other users, such as dams, pipelines, pumping stations and water purification plants.
• Plantations also use a small fraction of the fertilisers and herbicides used in other land uses and, as such, negative impacts from these activities on biodiversity and water quality are very low.
• Plantations are one of the most efficient and beneficial water users – both in respect of the timber produced and the associated carbon dioxide sequestered (absorbed) in the process.

• Plantations use both soil and water resources but these can be measured against the returns they provide:

1. Forestry uses just 3% of available water in the country. This is just 5% of the water used by agriculture (62%). (Strategic Overview of Water Sector in South Africa, 2010. Department of Water Affairs)
2. Forestry occupies about 1.2% of the land used for agriculture
3. Plantations and the forest products sub-sector provide 22.5% of jobs in agriculture

• All forests are vital to the Earth’s water supply as they influence how and where rain falls, filtering and cleaning water.

Plantations and biodiversity

• The South African National Biodiversity Institute concluded in a seven-year grasslands programme funded by the Global Environmental Facility that the grasslands managed by plantation growers were the most diverse and best conserved of all land uses in the programme.
• There are more formally protected grasslands and natural forests under management of the plantation industry, than in any other commercial land use sector.
• Some 80% of the land reserved for plantation forestry is certified to the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council. Approximately 25% of this land is not planted to trees and is conserved for biodiversity.
• The Living Planet Report published in 2014 by the World Wildlife Fund and the Zoological Society of London lauded the Mondi Wetlands Project among the four solutions to global wildlife loss.

Plantations and people

• Apart from the 165,000 jobs in forestry, there are an additional 551,000 forestry-related jobs in upstream and downstream sectors (pulp and papermaking, furniture, timber for mining and construction etc).
• Forestry provides other social benefits to about three million people in rural areas: access to education, training, health care, housing, nutrition, transport, infrastructure and business development and support.

Trees – in all forms – are essential to life on our planet. They absorb excess carbon dioxide and pollutant gases, and provide clean air, water and climate regulation. As a renewable resource and a livelihood for many communities, forests are an important part of the solution to meeting global needs for food, fuel, fibre, medicine and other products essential to daily life.

The post Celebrating trees, wood and water this Arbor Week | 4 – 10 September first appeared on The Paper Story (PAMSA).

It is against this backdrop that Forestry South Africa (FSA) has sponsored a cash prize of R60,000 towards the Agristars Youth Award for Forestry in partnership with the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF). This prize was awarded to bioresources engineering students Lesego Mokou and Kholofelo Moloko from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. They received their award along with other young entrepreneurs and innovators in Pretoria on Thursday, 30 June, at a high-profile dinner hosted by DAFF Deputy Minister General Bheki Cele.

The Minister issued a clarion call to South Africa’s young entrepreneurs, innovators and scientists. “Don’t get your PhD and masters, and then look for a job. Your job is to look far, far ahead. We want you to come with answers.”

Engineering answers for emerging timber growers

Together with Simon Ackerman, research scientist at the Institute for Commercial Forestry Research (ICFR) and UKZN peers, Thankslord Hadebe and Namisani Nduli, Mokou and Moloko engineered a cost-effective timber winch proposed as a production tool to assist small-scale growers and contractors to productively extract timber grown on steep terrain.

The development and prototyping was established as a collaborative project with the UKZN Bioresources Engineering Department forming part of their final year student training undergraduate curriculum.

The project – initiated in 2015 by Hadebe and Nduli – resulted in the development of a chainsaw-powered winch as the base for future work. The prototype showed great promise and was further developed this year, incorporating a change in the drive mechanism, and an overall revamping of the structural design. Mokou and Moloko have been responsible for bringing this design to the point where it is ready for prototype manufacture.

Stars of agriculture, forestry and fisheries light up SA’s future

The event showcased the excellence and exceptional achievements of young graduates, entrepreneurs and producers in agriculture, forestry and fisheries in the hope of attracting and absorbing more young people into these sectors as a desirable and ‘cool’ career.

The initiative forms part of DAFF’s Young Producers and Entrepreneur Strategy (YPES), which aims to bridge the gaps of mature producers while reducing youth unemployment and poverty. The strategy supports the establishment of youth-owned and/or managed enterprises, youth entrepreneurs and activities that encourage the active participation of young people in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector.

Vibrant sector, value-add and rural development

South Africa has a vibrant commercial forestry sector, which plays an important role in meeting domestic wood and wood product needs. It also earns valuable foreign currency through wood chip and cellulose exports. In addition, tree growing contributes to the development and improvement of rural livelihoods.

FSA executive director Michael Peter highlights the sector’s socio-economic importance: “The forestry industry provides significant social and enterprise support to local people. More than 24,000 small-scale timber growers have entered the market over the past two decades, many of whom have gone on to become very successful and to create employment for more people.”

He adds that forestry companies provide formal employment for approximately 145,000 people, in addition to tens of thousands of related upstream and downstream jobs along the wood and paper product value chains.

FSA’s members and partners provide bursaries throughout the forest product value chain, and fund the University of Pretoria’s Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI) and the Institute for Commercial Forestry Research (ICFR) where many more young people are supported in their forestry-related professions.

DST sees the wood for the trees

For the past eight years, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has funded FABI’s Forest Molecular Genetics Programme, which has evolved into a multifaceted tree-breeding platform. The Industry Innovation Partnership initiative established in 2013 saw an initial allocation of R500 million with a reservation of R166 million for the development of the Sector Innovation Fund (SIF) as part of the broader initiative.

The forestry SIF – ‘Future Plantation Forests for the South African Bio-economy’ – implemented and coordinated by FSA, has attracted a DST investment of R25 million over three-and-a-half years. It is expected that at least R20 million will be funded by industry, as a direct cash contribution.

DAFF leads the industry in pest and disease control

DAFF and FSA have continued to co-fund the multi-million Rand Sirex Woodwasp Control Programme. The programme, implemented through FABI and the ICFR, has saved the plantation industry from massive losses to this damaging pest. DAFF and FSA also co-fund the Tree Protection Co-operative Partnership at FABI, which remains a global leader in the field of pest and disease research.

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Forestry South Africa (FSA) represents South Africa’s timber growers with membership spanning all 11 active corporate forestry companies, approximately 1,300 commercial timber farmers and some 20,000 small-scale growers. Collectively, FSA’s members own or control no less than 93% of the country’s total plantation area.

In South Africa, around 1.3 million hectares of fast-growing tree plantations are grown as short-rotation woody biomass crops to produce approximately 20 million tonnes of renewable biomass feedstock. These industrial wood plantations are managed by growers and processors for a wide array of end products, with a shift away from traditional pulp and paper towards bioenergy and chemical feedstocks. These require cutting edge science, technology and innovation.

Globally, the forestry sector contributes around $600 billion annually to GDP and provides employment to more than 50 million people.

The post Low-cost timber winch wins two KZN student engineers the inaugural Agristars Forestry Award first appeared on The Paper Story (PAMSA).

The presentation – Overview of land use and forestry sector within INDCs*

*Intended Nationally Determined Contributions

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We are optimistic about the future of the global forest products industry, said David Scheible, President and CEO of Graphic Packaging International, Inc. “Our industry provides renewable and recyclable products that are important to the global economy and meet the needs of individuals, families, and communities around the globe.”

As a supplier of sustainable, renewable, and recyclable wood and paper products, the industry has a growing opportunity to both satisfy traditional markets for pulp, paper, paper-based packaging, and wood products and new markets for bio-energy, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and others.  Many companies are working on the development of next-generation materials from wood fiber that can meet the needs of a growing global population.

Our industry is advancing its value-added proposition with the potential of delivering sustainable, 21st century products that can help lighten the global manufacturing sector’s environmental footprint,” said Marcelo Castelli, President and CEO of Fibria S/A.  “The industry’s transformation towards the next-generation forest economy is being fueled by the rapidly growing bio-economy.”

Key points of discussion by the CEOs included the demands for wood fiber and the challenges and opportunities for the industry in the areas of increased forest yields, improvements in recovered fiber quality and quantity, and new products in the bio-economy.  They also discussed opportunities for industry collaboration on global government policies affecting the industry’s competitiveness and opportunities for attracting new customers and new workers by improving perceptions of the industry.

In order to truly take advantage of the growing opportunities provided by the bio-economy, the industry will need an infusion of new workers and new skills and competencies to produce these new products, said Chad Wasilenkoff, CEO, Fortress Paper, Ltd. “Working through our industry associations, with governments and educational institutions, we are committed to attract and train the best and the brightest to our green renewable industry.”

The next ICFPA CEOs Roundtable is scheduled to take place in 2015. 

The post Forest and Paper Industry Leaders Discuss the Global Sector’s Future first appeared on The Paper Story (PAMSA).