The Growing Forests – Growing a Future (GFGF) programme is a Mercer initiative, supporting—and in alliance with—German forest owners in sustaining their forests to keep forestry alive. Mercer is one of the first companies within the German wood industry with such a large-scale tree-planting endeavour.
Apart from providing industry with much-needed pulp and timber, forests are valuable carbon sinks, watersheds, biodiversity enhancers, preventers of soil erosion and the livelihood source for millions of people. It is also a very popular and sought-after source of recreation and rest for the German public.
Read more about how forests play a part in sustaining life on the planet.
The GFGF programme is a step towards replacing and regenerating that which has been lost from the bark beetle and other natural disasters like floods, wildfires and soil degradation. Uniting expertise and commitment of participants, the GFGF programme aims to nurture and create the forests of the future with forest owners, foresters and policy makers. It is indeed a collaborative effort to sustain—and improve—the health of German forests for our tomorrows.
How Does The
GFGF Programme Work
Over the next few years, Mercer Holz will provide forest owners with carefully selected seedlings to be added to their forests. Among others, these include Douglas Fir, from North America, which is fast-growing and climate-adapted. The mixed variety will strengthen and create a more thriving and sustainable forest.
Germans proudly view forests as a vital part of their identity—it is theirs— and love spending their free time exploring it. So, it is crucial that they are also included. The GFGF programme aims to increase awareness of the German public, eNGOs and policy makers of the necessity of working as a united whole in supporting forest owners.
We are inviting forest owners, members of the media and important figures within the forestry supply chain to a series of launch events, where Mercer Holz will distribute these seedlings to participating forest owners and raise awareness for this important topic.
Mercer’s Sustainability
Commitment
To be sustainable, we look beyond the ability to meet our present needs and consider the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It’s a commitment to manage and operate our business, including the natural resources under our care or direction, with a long-term view. We believe that in doing so, we will be able to deliver lasting value to our customers, employees, shareholders, communities and forest owners.
In alignment with Mercer’s 8 Core Values, we take our environmental, social and governance (ESG) responsibility and goals to heart. The decisions we make aim to reduce our carbon footprint, boost financial performance, maximise the value of fibre from the forest, reduce our chemical and water use, and prepare us for replacing fossil fuels with greener options on our road to net-zero carbon emissions.
We believe that by caring for the health and safety of our workers, maintaining the environmental quality of our operations and being part of and actively engaged in the communities, we provide value for all our stakeholders. We insist on a safety-first mindset which we consider as non-negotiable.
We work to build all of these values and goals into our culture, which we refer to as ‘the Mercer Way’.
Why the Growing Forests – Growing a Future
programme is needed today
The importance of forests
Apart from providing industry with much-needed timber for construction, furniture and household, forests are valuable carbon sinks, watersheds, biodiversity enhancers, preventers of soil erosion and the livelihood source for millions of people. It is also a very popular and sought-after source of recreation and rest for the German public, who view the German forests as their own.
The bark beetle calamity which has destroyed many forests in Germany is grave concern to all within the forestry supply chain. Climate change has also upset the equilibrium of these forests. The GFGF programme aims to bring awareness to these issues; supplying select seedlings to forest owners is a small step towards replacing and regenerating that which has been lost.
Read more about how forests play a part in sustaining life on the planet.
Positive forestry
Apart from climate change triggering the bark beetle calamity, droughts, floods and fires, there are also external pressures for forest owners. In a recent poll, 97% of EU residents consider the decline and disappearance of forests to be a serious or very serious problem for the loss of biodiversity (EU, Eurobarometer 379, 2013b). Smart forest management bears a number of positive effects, which include thinning out the forest and ensuring the forest floor is not a breeding ground for bark beetles and other pests.
Smart, sustainable forest management counteracts this. This includes thinning forests to ensure that the forest floor does not provide a breeding ground for the bark beetle and other pests.
Furthermore, more than 1.1 million people are employed in forestry in Germany. It is crucial to bring awareness for differences between deforesting, reforesting, afforesting, greenwashing and sustainable foresting.
