🌳 Forest certification: Lessons from UKWAS and paper's rebirth as wood

Jens Isbak

Welcome to this week's newsletter 👋🏻

March has arrived with its promise of spring, and the forests are showing their first subtle signs of awakening. It's the perfect time to reflect on how we manage and certify these valuable resources.

This week, we're diving into the fascinating world of forest certification through our conversation with two titans of the field. We also explore an innovative Swedish startup turning paper back into wood, and share a useful update to Forsler that makes sharing maps even easier.

💬 In this week's issue we'll cover:

Foresting Tomorrow #20: UKWAS – a certification success story 🌱
Feature story: Diplomacy in the forest: Lessons from the British certification system 📊
Success story: Swedish startup turns paper back into wood 🧪
Product update: Easily share maps and tasks with stakeholders 📩
Further reading: Sources and insights 🤓

Let's dive in! 🌳
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🎙️ Podcast episode 20: The UKWAS certification model explained

In this week's episode, we welcome two distinguished guests: Ben Gunneberg (UKWAS Chair) and Peter Wilson (UKWAS Working Group Chair), whose extensive careers in UK forestry include roles in the Timber Growers Association, PEFC, and the Institute of Chartered Foresters.

We explore the UK Woodland Assurance Standard (UKWAS) – how it all started, its evolution through five versions, and why it remains the only successful dual-endorsed certification system in the world. Our guests share insights on why similar efforts in Norway and Sweden faltered, and discuss the current challenges facing Version 5 as it awaits FSC endorsement.

🌳 Listen to the latest episode of Foresting Tomorrow here
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📊 Diplomacy in the Forest: Lessons from the British Certification System

While many countries struggle with complex and sometimes competing forest certification systems, the UK has developed a unique approach that simplifies the process while maintaining high standards.

In our article, we explore:

How UKWAS emerged from "trench warfare" between stakeholders
The power of consensus as a core principle
Why the UK model has succeeded where others failed
Current challenges and future perspectives for certification

📄 Read the full article on the UK certification model here 📄
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🧪 Success story: Swedish startup turns paper back into wood

A Swedish startup is revolutionising material science by turning paper back into wood. PaperShell is a new engineered wood product that could replace carbon-intensive materials in various industries.

This material, stronger than wood, is manufactured through intensive compression moulding, combining paper fibres, bio-resin, and hemicellulose. The resulting product is 100% biogenic with no fossil carbon.

Major automotive companies, including BMW and Polestar, are already exploring how to integrate this material into their designs. As PaperShell co-founder Anders Breitholtz explains: "You get a component which is 100% biogenic. There's no fossil carbon inside. It's just natural materials."

See how paper is transformed back into wood here 📃
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📩 Product update: Easily share maps and tasks

News: 4th of March 2025 | Version 2.10.3

Sharing maps and tasks with forestry stakeholders is a key part of modern forest management – and a core feature of Forsler. Now, emails sent from Forsler include direct links to the relevant maps, making access even easier for recipients.