On September 30 and October 1, the School of Building Engineering of the University of Granada hosted this technical conference in which, for the first time, agents from the entire value chain participated, from the primary to the industrial sector, including the knowledge sector in the forestry, construction and architecture sectors.

The conference, with more than 150 people registered, aimed to respond to the growing demand for more sustainable solutions that allow the industrialization of the entire construction process. Wood, a biologically based material with extraordinary mechanical and numerically controlled machining properties, is today considered the most appropriate material for this transformation in the sector.

Together with the Minister, the inauguration was attended by the Director General of Forestry Policy and Biodiversity of the Junta de Andalucía, Giuseppe Aloisio; the Director of the ETS of Building Engineering, Juan Manuel Santiago; the President of the Andalusian Forestry Association, Gabriel Gutiérrez; and the coordinator of LIFE Wood for Future, Professor Antolino Gallego.

Giuseppe Aloisio pledged to review the forestry policy of the Andalusian Government and said that the forests should cease to be seen as an “untouchable nature to be photographed” and become a source of resources and wealth creation. “We must flee from short-termism. We will see the results of what we sow now in 20 years’ time,” he said.

For his part, Gabriel Gutiérrez said that forestry policies have been “cornered” in recent decades, partly because of a misunderstood conservationism, and said that proper forest management is the best way to prevent devastating fires like those of last summer. “We cannot do defensive forestry,” he said.

Juan Manuel Santiago also stressed the need to incorporate wood into the construction sector, which is responsible for between 25% and 30% of the global carbon footprint.

The conference was co-organized by the universities of Granada, Huelva and Cordoba and the Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research and Training (Ifapa) of the Andalusian Government under the umbrella of the LIFE Wood for Future project.

Throughout Friday different specialists from universities and companies, mostly Andalusian, presented experiences of forestry and other forestry uses such as biomass for energy production; the latest advances in construction systems; tests conducted with innovative products of pine and poplar, such as beams and laminated and cross-laminated wood panels; or the use of wood, cork and bamboo in green architecture.

This initiative aims to reduce the carbon footprint of construction and promote the use of forest resources in Andalusia and, through it, combat rural depopulation, prevent forest fires and protect biodiversity.also, the meeting at the ETS of Building Engineering aims to contribute to the creation of a greener social housing stock, generate bioeconomy with local resources (blue economy) and promote the industrialization of the construction sector in Andalusia, improving its competitiveness and quality of finishes.

According to the organizers of this event, the growing interest in wood as a building element offers a huge opportunity for the forestry sector in Andalusia, both for timber species of the Mediterranean forest (pine) and for forestry crops (poplar), and for the creation of a new ecosystem of forest management and processing industries.

The conference concluded on Saturday with a visit to the Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research and Training (IFAPA) of the Junta de Andalucía in the Camino de Purchil, where forestry trials will be presented with various species of poplar, and a visit to a poplar grove in the Vega de Granada.

You can see an extensive report of the conference in this link of Madera Sostenible:

https://madera-sostenible.com/madera/life-wood-for-future-obtiene-el-beneplacito-de-la-junta-de-andalucia/