If you must cut wood, do it wisely

It may seem surprising at first, but artificial intelligence can help make logging more sustainable. This is also necessary because wood is a renewable resource of energy, so more attention should be paid to its efficient and safe extraction.

It may come as a surprise, but the inclusion of artificial intelligence (AI) in logging is an important project implemented by a timber conglomerate. The Austrian-based Kronospan started as a small sawmill in the 1980s, founded by Matthias Kaindl and his son Peter. It is now one of the world's largest wood-manufacturing multinationals. The company, led by Peter Kaindl, is striving to make logging more sustainable.

The reason is that with the increase in demand for paper and wood, deforestation has also become more aggressive, and mostly fossil fuel-powered equipment cuts down trees while severely damaging their immediate environment, including animals and plants. According to Kaindl, the solution is AI, which optimises logging – and robots can also be used in the future to cause less environmental damage to nature.

If a smart machine can tell you when to cut down a particular row of trees so that, for example, it no longer has birds nesting in it, or determine which species can be regrown relatively quickly in a given area, then we will already have done a lot to preserve natural habitats.

According to an article published on Forbes.com, Kaindl invests in technologies and companies that focus on such solutions. For example, researchers in India and Singapore have developed an AI system that can help with solutions for sustainable logging based on a wealth of forestry data. They have come to the point where the machine can even process specific cases, i.e. it can give advice by region and forest area.

Of course, Kaindl also has a business interest in this: as Kronospan trades wood panels and paper, the company cannot survive without the raw materials. The company is present in thirty countries and strives to deliver modern, data-driven procedures to as many locations as possible - the article highlights Latvia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Hungary.

Of course, sustainable forest management is not just a European issue, but one which is being greenwashed all over the world with fake solutions. According to an article in Yale University's publication dealing with environmental issues, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) in Germany, which was set up to certify sustainable wood, is a prime example of how to turn a well-intentioned idea into greenwashing.

The FSC was originally intended to be a weapon in the fight against tropical deforestation: if a product bears the organisation’s label, it is theoretically made from wood from recognised source. However, in addition to the slow and expensive processes of the FSC, the fact that the organisation is mainly active in America and Europe also makes the fight for sustainability difficult.

It is important to point out that most illegal deforestation is not for timber but in order to reclaim the land itself, as palm oil, coffee and other raw materials which can be sold in large quantities and at a high price can be then grown there. And this problem cannot be solved by artificial intelligence.

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