North American forest sector outlook study

Projections for the United Sates and Canada to 2030 have been made with a global model to account for concurrent changes in other countries. Three future scenarios were investigated: two IPCC-based scenarios assuming the rapid growth of wood-based energy, and one IPCC-based scenario without this assumption. The model, under the IPCC scenarios, accounted for trends in population, income and land use along with emerging technology and predicted changes to consumption patterns for wood products and bioenergy. Markets for wood products, which mainly are destined for the construction sector in North America, are projected to recover by 2015 under all three scenarios examined. Projections suggest that, in spite of declining use of paper for media, other paper and paperboard for packaging and miscellaneous uses will continue to enjoy strong global demand.