A sustainable and circular bioeconomy presents opportunities to improve climate change adaptation and resilience by promoting ecosystem restoration, nutrient and water retention in soils, supporting Indigenous People and local livelihoods based on biological products and services as well as building the conditions for more sustainably managed forests and fisheries. A transition to a sustainable and circular bioeconomy involves challenges and risks as well as benefits and opportunities. The potential trade-offs must be carefully considered and mitigating measures put in place to offset the negatives. Policy actions, partnerships and innovations are key tools to support a transition. While a transition to a sustainable and circular bioeconomy is a global goal, local production and consumption are key economic conditions to consider in achieving it. Local economies, green job opportunities and consumer interests should be supported and benefit from a transition. Forest-based materials are used for a wide variety of products in a circular bioeconomy and innovation continues to refine existing and develop new applications. The considerations addressed in this study include the growing demand for renewable forest-based raw materials and energy as well as the drive for a reduction in global reliance on fossil fuels. Additionally, there are considerations for climate change, pollution, and waste, as well as the phasing out of single-use and fossil-plastics, that create opportunities and challenges for the forest sector. To further support a sustainable and circular bioeconomy and the potential for a positive relationship with forests, public and private sector actors need to continue efforts that will effectively address the environmental, economic, and social aspects of a transition.

The circularity of paper and paperboard value chains is implemented principally thanks to the link between the design and production on the one hand and the use and end-of-life management on the other. As paper products become more complex and have to fulfil more functions, it is important that designers and producers of paper-based products are aware of the paper recycling process and contribute to high rates of and high-quality recovered paper allowing paper products to stay in the material loop. Various initiatives have been put in place in the pulp and paper value chain to ensure this objective and increase the circularity of paper-based products. However, the high rate of recycling is an achievement distinct from the pulp and paper industry among forest-based industries. The study describes the complexity of the pulp and paper industry with its different stages of raw material use, pulp and papermaking production processes and, finally, the trend to create higher-value products from side stream utilization. The study also gives the general industry context by describing an overall trend from a resource-intensive industry to one that has reduced its resource consumption, including through increased recycling rates over the last few years and the attention given to the optimization of water use and energy consumption. The design for the end-of-life valorization is equally important for all industries in the forest sector to successfully embrace circularity. However, in the pulp and paper industry, this important aspect of circularity has been realized as the high level of recycling is a prominent industry-wide feature. For this reason, this study places a particular focus on circular design and its interlinkages with the high level of paper recycling.

The Catalogue of Wood Waste Classifications in the UNECE Region provides information about existing wood waste classifications developed by various international organizations and, at the national level, countries’ legal acts, statistical offices and sectoral non-governmental bodies. The information included can be useful in the development of a practical tool facilitating wood waste trade in the region.

The Forest Sector Outlook Study 2020-2040 (FSOS) for the UNECE region provides information that supports decision-making by showing the possible medium and long-term consequences of specific policy choices and structural changes, using scenario analyses whenever possible. The study is the first to cover the entire UNECE region and provides results for the main UNECE subregions of Europe, North America and the Russian Federation. This Discussion Paper presents the detailed research, analysis and findings that were used to develop Chapter 4 of the UNECE/FAO Forest Sector Outlook Study 2020-2040. The study takes a pragmatic, transparent and objective approach to answering these key questions, sometimes using a modeling approach. It enables stakeholders to evaluate the long-term consequences of policy choices.

This publication is the statistical supplement to the official statement by the Committee on Forests and the Forest Industry about the current and next year's forest products markets. The tables in the publication show detailed forest products production and trade forecasts by country for 2021 and 2022. The tables are generated based on official submission by more than 30 member States from Europe, North America and Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia. The tables presented cover roundwood (logs, pulpwood and fuel wood), sawnwood (coniferous and non-coniferous), wood-based panels (plywood, particle board, OSB and fibreboard), pulp, paper and wood pellets. The Committee also collects data on over 30 individual products for many countries in the UNECE region.

This publication is intended to assist stakeholders in the forestry sector to successfully navigate the transition to a forest sector that is fully engaged in the green economy. New and increasing opportunities for providing forest-based services and products, growing business and revenue as well as creating jobs arise from this transition. Application of the guidelines will assist in ensuring that the forestry workforce is fit for purpose and forestry is able to attract workers in the 21st century’s labour market.

This discussion paper includes a description of major transformation drivers of green jobs in the forest sector development, a mapping of (i) existing and emerging green jobs in the sector; (ii) skill requirements and; (iii) education needs for forest professionals in the UNECE region.

This study, focusing primarily on the period from the collapse of the Soviet Union until the present day, identifies the key drivers of forest degradation and the potential for forest landscape restoration in the Caucasus and Central Asia. The study was undertaken to support the preparation of restoration pledges in the eight countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia in the run up to the Ministerial Roundtable on Forest Landscape Restoration and the Bonn Challenge in the Caucasus and Central Asia that took place in June 2018 in Astana, Kazakhstan. At this Roundtable Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan committed to restore over 2.5 million ha of forest landscapes by 2030.

The study Green Jobs in the Forest Sector provides an overview of existing Green Forest Jobs and identifies possible areas for future activities and jobs in the forest sector, and may serve as starting point for further analysis and discussion on the future of Green Forest Jobs. It offers a framework for classifying Green Forest Jobs under seven thematic work areas, outlined in the seven main sections of the study, with a particular focus on major trends, needs and challenges as well as opportunities and prospects for the forest sector. The findings suggest that to promote Green Jobs in the forest sector it is key to: (i) look at forest ecosystem services management as the frame for Green Forest Jobs; (ii) recognize the progress made in the development of Green Forest Jobs and to identify avenues for the future; (iii) enhance the public perception of jobs in the forest sector; (iv) revise existing curricula and develop new ones for catering to the needs of the sector to close the skills gaps; and (v) to facilitate an inclusive transition to green economy through training and support.

The ECE Timber Committee and the FAO European Forestry Commission emerged from the International Timber Conference held in 1947 as the key elements of the United Nations tasked with working on matters related to the forest sector in Europe. During their first 70 years of joint activity, the Committee and the Commission have contributed to post war reconstruction, to the expansion of the forest sector, to meeting the major challenges of the sector and to promoting and monitoring sustainable forest management. This paper chronicles the history of the Committee and the Commission’s work, in the context of the 2017 celebrations of the 70th anniversary of ECE and to mark the 70th anniversary of the fruitful cooperation of ECE and FAO on forests in the region.