Biotechnology's Potential Contribution to Global Wood Supply and Forest Conservation

Over the past 30 years, industrial plantation forests have become a major supplier of industrial wood. There are several reasons for this, including the improved economics of planted forests due to biotechnological innovations, the increases in natural forest wood costs due to increasing inaccessibility, and rising wood costs from natural forests due to new environmental restrictions related to logging. Forestry today is on the threshold of the widespread introduction of biotechnology into its operational practices. In many cases, the biotechnology likely to be introduced is simply an extension of that being utilized in agriculture, such as herbicide-tolerant genes. However, biotechnology in forestry also is developing applications unique to forestry, including genes for fiber modification, lignin reduction and extraction, and for the promotion of straight stems and reduced branching.

[1]  A. Angelsen,et al.  When does technological change in agriculture promote deforestation , 2001 .

[2]  Y. Hayami,et al.  Agricultural Development: An International Perspective. , 1972 .

[3]  Pekka E. Kauppi,et al.  Technological and Economic Potential of Options to Enhance , Maintain , and Manage Biological Carbon Reservoirs and Geoengineering , 2022 .

[4]  R. Sedjo.  The Comparative Economics of Plantation Forestry: A Global Assessment , 1983 .

[5]  Roger A. Sedjo,et al.  Using Foret Plantations TO SPARE Natural Forests , 1997 .

[6]  Robert Mendelsohn,et al.  Forest Management, Conservation, and Global Timber Markets , 1999 .

[7]  David E. Hibbs,et al.  PoPlar ChiP ProduCtion for Willamette Valley Grass seed sites , 1995 .

[8]  S. Strauss,et al.  Assessing potential risks of transgene escape from fiber plantations , 1999 .

[9]  T. Hoban,et al.  Seeds and Sovereignty: The Use and Control of Plant Genetic Resources. , 1989 .

[10]  Chung-Jui Tsai,et al.  Repression of lignin biosynthesis promotes cellulose accumulation and growth in transgenic trees , 1999, Nature Biotechnology.

[11]  T. J. Mullin,et al.  Environmental release of transgenic trees in Canada — potential benefits and assessment of biosafety , 1998 .

[12]  P. Charest,et al.  The regulation of transgenic trees in North America. , 2000 .

[13]  J. Cairney,et al.  Clonal forestry genetic engineering : Where we stand, future prospects, and potential impacts on mill operations , 1998 .

[14]  Agricultural Biotech Faces Backlash in Europe , 1998, Science.

[15]  Alberto Goetzl,et al.  Sustainability of temperate forests , 1998 .

[16]  R. Sedjo.  Property Rights, Genetic Resources, and Biotechnological Change , 1992, The Journal of Law and Economics.