Forestry Trends in the New Millennium, 2000 Pulping / Process & Product Quality Conference Proceedings

R. C. Kellison--Except for North America where the economy has been robust for a record-setting nine years, the world economy is strengthening in all regions. Such strengthening, in combination with a rapidly expanding population, will increase the consumption of paper and paperboard because consumption of fiber products correlates strongly with gross domestic product. The increase will occur despite the ever-increasing emphasis on information systems. It will be most positive in packaging grades as a result of increased purchases from web sites. The resource for much of that increase will be from virgin fibers because the recovery of secondary fibers is economically plateauing. It will also be increasingly concentrated in the tropics and subtropics where the environment for tree growth is generally greatly superior to that in the temperate and boreal regions. Thetimber will be grown in intensively managed plantations, relying heavily on exotic species that benefit from competition control and nutrients, and even supplemental water in selected areas. Despite the adversity surrounding the science, biotechnology will be an essential component of wood production and manufacturing. Complementary values of biotechnology will be in pest control, and site amelioration and remediation, and in the manufacture of products from wood, such as food stuff, that is beyond our imagination.