How Sustainable Are North American Wood Supplies

This paper analyzes the current wood supply estimates for North America. The result of the analysis casts doubts whether the North American supplies are sustainable. It is obvious that current estimates do not consider many of the aspects of sustainable forest management but are based on a concept of the availability of timber. It can be concluded that there is a lack of consistent national projections in both the USA and Canada. The North American analyses do not take into account that the wood supply issue is driven by the political economy and not only by the market economy. North America has a lot to gain if future analyses of the supply would be carried out based on a political economic concept.