speedtokaw

An investment in timber, either actual forest land or tree based projects such as ecological wood pellets to burn instead of fossil fuels, is a kind of energy investment. It is the kind of energy that is sustainable. However, this is only true, as long as more trees are planted and given time to grow and the logging is carried out with consideration to the environment.

Unfortunately, there is evidence that unsustainable forestry practice is happening all around the world. The Journal of Biological Conservation in a recent article, is calling it the 'timber peak'. The author of the report states that we have already passed the timber peak and with evidence from the deforestation of the Solomon Islands, we are not regenerating timber resources as quickly as we are extracting them.

Felling with no, or inadequate replanting is one of the biggest threats to mankind because of its contribution to global warming. It is a practice with consequences that are difficult to quantify, but some sources estimate that it adds up to a fifth of all the world's greenhouse emissions.

Investors beware of projects based in the Solomon Islands and see them as typical examples of what is happening all too often when sustainable forestry comes second to quick profits. Schemes promising returns greater than 8% per annum should be asked to justify themselves more fully because this is the rate at which trees grow naturally.

The authorities in the Solomon Islands have been repeatedly told over this last 10 years, that the annual harvest of wood exceeds the replenishment rate and that this year; they are passing a tipping point for the depletion of their best resource. The 'get the rich quick' brigade have caused dire economic consequences for the ordinary
people of these once beautiful islands, and timber investors have connived in destruction, bringing it on much earlier than predicted.

The report extrapolates from the Solomon Islands and claims that up to 50% of the timber sold on the World's market today could be from unsustainable if not downright illegal forestry practices. It isn't just trees of course, the same sorts of accusation can be aimed at all kinds of energy resources in any number of countries. The peak timber scenario is a downward spiral of population growth, increased demand for resources, a myopic fixation on economic growth, unsustainable quick profiteering, bio diversity loss and of course climate change.

Quick profit from unethical investment is the fuel in the tank of this engine of destruction. Like the timber peaking Solomon Islands, early-onset Armageddon is the norm rather than the exception. There are two hopeful stories of ecological disaster prevention. Remember the hole in the ozone layer that hasn't killed us all with skin cancer? And then there is the blue fin tuna still avoiding extinction despite our voracious appetite for it.

So when you're looking for an investment vehicle and you are considering timber, look carefully to see whether your profits are not literally costing the Earth.