wood culture

Modern forestry embraces the term sustainable forest management: “the stewardship and use of forests and forest lands in a way, and at a rate, that maintains their biodiversity, productivity, regeneration capacity, vitality and their potential to fulfil, now and in the future, relevant ecological, economic and social functions, at local, national, and global levels, and that does not cause damage to other ecosystems” ²

Finally the work of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) and their working party for wood culture provides an additional definition of the term and its research areas:

“Wood Culture is an interdisciplinary science area which provides a better understanding of the use and social aspects of wood from a cultural perspective. Research in Wood Culture improves people’s relationship with nature and opens new ways to understand wood from an economic, environmental, and social value perspective.”

Research areas emphasised by the IUFRO Wood Culture Working Party:

• The historical and contemporary use of wood in different regions or countries in the world
• The development and culture of the use of wood products; including furniture, paper, housing components, lumber, veneer, plywood, oriented strand board, and sculptures, etc
• The culture of wood in different societies as part of religion, literature, philosophy, and art
• The promotion of the use and culture of wood in all societies and at all levels of education
• The education and promotion of the positive aspects of wood, such as the beauty and strength of wood, the benefits of wood to ecology and the environment, and the historical and social aspects of wood