How do we live in a world where humans require shelter in many forms AND balance that with what forests require? And, how do we do this differently than before?

Wood Summit
20

Hello, everyone - because I am still unsure which of these chat rooms to use to share information for our working group, I will put my recommendations on the charge questions here and add them to our shared document and other chat rooms. I won’t be able to join our call tomorrow, because I have an irreconcilable conflict, so I hope these are helpful. Dave

  1. What are the challenges impeding progress in your thematic area? (i.e. Procurement, Forest Management & Incentives, Measuring Progress, Collective Action)

The greatest single challenge impeding progress in our area is that in an earnest quest for an ideal solution, we are making things too complicated. The perfect is becoming the enemy of the good. If we want to help the climate, let’s simplify our approach and focus on the most important things first.

  1. What key issues / insights were clarified?

Here are three things we know:

  1. We depend on private working forests to provide as much as 90% of the wood in the built environment.

  2. Private working forests are already carbon negative or, in other words, they are managed so that carbon stocks are stable or increasing, and forest products markets have a lot to do with that.

  3. We want forests that provide carbon benefits to also be managed sustainably. Certifications programs are not perfect, but they are credible standards for sustainability.

  4. What are the existing or proposed Solutions you’re seeking input on?

Here are three simple suggested solutions to help us move forward with confidence:

  1. Use wood from private working forests that are carbon negative or, in other words, in regions where carbon stocks are stable or increasing.
  2. Don’t try to force private working forests that are already carbon negative to become even more carbon negative as a condition of use in the built environment. If we want more carbon in working forests, use market incentives outside of the built environment to achieve that.
  3. Use all existing certification programs to demonstrate sustainability in private working forests and wood utilization.

I’m sure our smart colleagues who know LCAs will identify a few simple recommendations to continuously improve our use of whole building LCAs. I suggest we identify the 2-3 most important recommendations and focus on those.

  1. What is your feedback on the draft Vision statement, i.e. what resonates? Needs adjustment? Significant disagreements?

Simplify the vision statement significantly so that it is truly strategic and not tactical. Incorporate the simple things above that we know and that we should focus on to make real progress.