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Firstly, if you are seeking a softwood species, it
will generally require treatment with a chemical
preservative to provide the durability required for a
long a service life. From time to time concerns have
been expressed about the potentially harmful nature of
the products used, mainly the potential danger of the
chemicals leaching out from the wood. Admittedly this is
grey area with conflicting “evidence” being presented to
back up claims one way or the other. One of the most
common chemical preservatives used in the past has been
CCA (copper-chrome–arsenic) and although such products
have been used for decades, some countries or regions
have now taken steps to ban the use of CCA, at least in
public spaces.
In recent years a number of alternative wood
preservation products have come on the market which are
claimed to have little or no potential harmful
consequences. However whether these products will
provide the same long term protection of the timber as
CCA, remains to be proven.
But the main environmental factor to be considered to
is that of the destruction of forests and ensuring the
any wood is sourced from forests which are managed
responsibly on long term sustainable basis without
affecting the surrounding environment and complying with
all legal requirements of the country of origin. For all
too long, tropical (and other) forests have been
decimated to make quick, short term profits with
devastating long term consequences. Uncontrolled or
illegal logging of forests in the Amazon basin and in
Sth East Asia have been of particular concern. Gradually
however this situation is changing, although illegal
logging is still rampant in many third world countries
in particular.
In an attempt to ensure the responsible harvesting
and sustainable forestry practices yet assure the
ongoing viability of existing forest industries, various
international organizations have been set up, the best
known of which is probably the Forest Stewardship
Council (FSC). This non profit organization aims to
ensure responsible and sustainable management of forests
and issues certificates of compliance for lumber or wood
products that are harvested or produced from such
forests. End products can also be certified by the FSC
providing the entire chain from lumber harvesting
through processing and production of finished products
complies with the regulations and requirements of the
FSC.
In recent years an increasing number of countries
have set up their own standards and certification
procedures. However in many cases the standards and
procedures are nowhere near as strict as those of the
FSC and to a large extent seem designed to give some
quasi government backed assurance that wood is being
harvested responsibly and sustainably. For list of
forests and companies that are currently certified by
the FSC see the web site
http://www.fsc.org . Alternatively further
information can be obtained from the organization
SmartWood
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/ which is
an independent non profit forestry certifier accredited
by the FSC. |
