Consumption of Wood Products and Dependence on Imports

This article has made an attempt to assess the prospect of sustainable forest management for an emerging economy, like India, where the area under forest coverage has gone up marginally over the last three decades in spite of population growth and rapid urbanization. A conscious attempt towards conservation is noted from the supply side. However, with rapid income growth, given the high demand elasticity of the wood-based products, there is a sharply growing gap between demand and supply. The import of forestry-based products is increasing in terms of volume, value and unit prices throughout this period, and the major importers of raw and semi-finished forestry-based inputs are the South and East Asian countries. India’s unleashed demand (met through import from outside) will eventually have its impact (like China) on reduced wood stock of the other countries and the consequent pressure on the climatic cycle of the planet will not only thwart the process of economic development but mere sustainable existence of the system will be doubtful. This pattern of the use of forest and wood-related products is indicating the absence of any consistently designed integrated policy position towards forest conservation. If no restriction is imposed from the demand-side, mere supply-side management would be inadequate to ensure sustainable forest use in the near future.