Wood is the most environmentally friendly raw material in the world, with the lowest carbon footprint. However, we are approaching the production limits of the world's natural forests. This means the global wood supply will increasingly need to come from plantations.
Most of the currently harvested plantation wood is pulpwood. Less than 10% is harvested as sawlogs.
The world is currently awash with wood, but most natural forests are being managed unsustainably. There is corruption, unregulated logging and, especially in the tropics, conversion to agriculture.
The global population, with increasing expectations for higher living standards, is predicted to increase from 6.4 billion to 10.0 billion by about 2050. At current average per capita wood needs this population increase alone would require at least an extra 2 billion cubic metres of wood annually! To supply this we would need an additional highly productive plantation area of about 100 million  ha, or about 4 NZ's.
Continued global wood supply is rarely given strategic consideration. However it is too late to respond when the wood market recovers. We need plantations and we need them now!