GENEVA (ILO News) - Employment in the world's forestry and wood industries - including logging, pulp and furniture and paper products - is expected to decline significantly over the coming years, with the potential loss of millions of jobs worldwide, according to a new report by the International Labour Office (ILO).

Restrictions on forest harvesting introduced in China alone will affect more than 1.2 million forest workers of which some 900,000 will lose their jobs. the report says. Closures of plywood mills in Indonesia due to raw material shortages so far have cost more than 40,000 jobs. In the United States, trade unions worry that a ban on road building in public forests will cost up to 12,000 jobs.

"But the news is not all bad. This industry is a real global test case," said Peter Poschen, an ILO forestry and wood specialist and co-author of the report. ^* "Arguably, the forest industry has taken the goal of sustainable development more seriously than any other sector. Many firms and countries are looking for ways to keep the industry economically viable, but also protect the forest environment and contribute to social justice.

"As we examine whether globalization can work for people and the environment, the answer will be measured in how this industry treats its forest resources, its workers and the livelihoods of over a billion people living in or next to forest areas," Mr. Poschen said.

ILO studies indicate that failure to address the challenges of globalization and sustain the forestry and wood industry sectors could lead to elimination of more than 5 percent of the global workforce in this area, estimated at some 47 million. Among the factors threatening jobs in the sector are restrictions on forest harvesting, the effects of mergers and acquisitions, structural changes and lack of resources in the forestry, wood, furniture and paper industries.

The forestry and wood industries are most important in Brazil, Canada, Chile, Finland, Ghana, New Zealand, Russia, Sweden, South Africa and the United States. The ILO report says forestry and wood employment levels in Britain, Finland, Sweden and New Zealand, for example, fell by over 10 per cent between 1990 and 1998.

Likewise, countries in transition have been losing forest industry jobs and may face more losses as restructuring continues. Production and exports in the Russian Federation have slumped to levels around those of the 1940s and more than a million jobs were lost between 1990 and 1999 in that country.

The future of the industry in other developing countries may be less bright, too, the report predicts. Globalization, with its mobile capital, worldwide availability of advanced technology and bigger firms more inclined to substitute capital for labour, will make job creation in the forest industries an uphill struggle even in developing countries.

To rise to the challenge, the forest industry has pioneered a series of tools to put the concept of sustainability into industry practice. These include new approaches to managing forests for the interests of industry as well as of local communities and the general public. Independent certification of such good management has been expanding rapidly in recent years, jointly supported by buyers of forest products, environmental NGOs, trade unions and industry, Mr. Poschen says.

Governments are playing an active role in countries to regulate but also promote sustainable development of the sector, including improvement of skills, the nurturing of small- and medium-sized firms which create more jobs, and social dialogue. The report highlights numerous promising initiatives in this direction, but says that more needs to be done to demonstrate that globalization is indeed compatible with sustainable development.

These issues will be discussed at a tripartite meeting beginning Monday 17 September at ILO headquarters here.

* " Globalization and sustainability: The forestry and wood industries on the move," International Labour Office, Geneva, 2001. ISBN 92-2-112518-1. Price: 20 Swiss francs.