From seedling to wood product
Whether for food, water, protection or wood, humankind has always been dependent on forests. Today, we need this complex ecosystem more than ever. Drees & Sommer and EPEA support the non-profit organization Fairventures Worldwide, which is carrying out reforestation projects with local smallholders in the tropics.
Brief description
Location:
Borneo, Indonesia
Date:
09.02.2020
Duration/scope:
1 day, donation, and planting campaign
Participants:
Drees & Sommer and EPEA (represented by Moritz Miller and Niklas Jonas)
Forests provide us with clean air and water, sustainable building materials, and renewable energy. Drees & Sommer and EPEA want to preserve and strengthen this ecosystem. In partnership with Fairventures, we want to show how wood can be a sustainable and renewable raw material at all stages of its life cycle – from cultivation and processing to products and recycling – with the added benefits of positive environmental impacts, such as increased biodiversity and carbon storage.
We want to promote approaches that create sustainable construction supply chains for the future, while at the same time pioneering construction with sustainable wood in keeping with Cradle to Cradle principles. That’s why we are supporting the Stuttgart-based NGO Fairventures, a pioneer in holistic sustainable supply chains in the wood industry. Fairventures is also involved in extensive projects for the reforestation of uncultivated land in the tropics in close cooperation with local communities.
EPEA’s Niklas Jonas helped reforest a small forest in Borneo. Drees & Sommer and EPEA donated €2,000 to the project. This money is enabling local farmer Ahmed and his family to integrate into a community and establish a secure long-term livelihood growing timber as a recyclable material and cultivating of raw materials that are in high demand. He has been given training in business organization and wood processing, thus creating alternatives to environmentally harmful practices (such as monocultures) that pose a grave threat to the rainforest in Borneo.
The supported reforestation area is being digitally recorded. This allows the location and growth of the forest to be tracked over time on an interactive web map.
“The Fairventures projects are inspiring examples of how economic opportunities can be created for smallholders, while at the same time having a positive impact on the environment and climate.”
Niklas Jonas (EPEA GmbH – Part of Drees & Sommer), who visited the reforestation area on his vacation trip to Borneo.
The project with Fairventures is also intended to promote wood as a raw material for a sustainable value chain in the construction, paper and furniture sectors. As a renewable, it offers a sustainable solution for a range of industries – from cultivation and processing to product manufacture and recycling – in keeping with Cradle to Cradle principles. A joint brochure on wood as a Cradle to Cradle resource in the construction sector is planned for 2020.
