=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-1498/HAICTA_2015_paper4
|storemode=property
|title=Wood Trade in Greece: The Impact Of Economic Crisis And The Use Of New Technologies
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1498/HAICTA_2015_paper4.pdf
|volume=Vol-1498
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/haicta/TzoulisATTV15
}}
==Wood Trade in Greece: The Impact Of Economic Crisis And The Use Of New Technologies==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1498/HAICTA_2015_paper4.pdf
Wood Trade in Greece: The Impact Of Economic Crisis
And The Use Of New Technologies
Ioakeim Tzoulis1, Zacharoula Andreopoulou2, Marios Trigkas3, George
Tsekouropoulos4, Elias Voulgaridis5
1
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Forestry and Natural Environment
Thessaloniki, 54124, PO Box 247, e-mail: itzoulis@for.auth.gr
2
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Forestry and Natural Environment
Thessaloniki, 54124, PO Box 247, e-mail: randreop@for.auth.gr
3
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Forestry and Natural Environment
Thessaloniki, 54124, PO Box 247, e-mail: mtrigkas@for.auth.gr
4
Ph.D. in Agri-business Marketing, Alexander Technological Educational Institution of
Thessaloniki, e-mail: geotsek@mycosmos.gr
4
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Forestry and Natural Environment
Thessaloniki, 54124, PO Box 247, e-mail: evoulga@for.auth.gr
Abstract. In wood trade, the supplier is the forest and the product is round
wood. The quality, the quantity and value of wood depend heavily on the
practices that are applied in the early stages of the supply chain. Current
methods of the the productive capacity of forests, the annual consumption of
wood and wood products, both from natural and technical forests and also
from imports are presented. The aim of the paper is to aggregate data on timber
trade in Greece and also to study how the economic crisis has affected the
forest, its products and how it has affected trade (imports and exports). We will
present the characteristics and elements for timber products gathered and
present the results in tables and diagrams. Finally, we will present the use and
utilization of new information technologies, such as databases, digital timber
traceability systems, sustainable timber and wood products, in collaboration
with the traditional methods used in timber trade.
Keywords: wood trade; supply chain; technologies; economic crisis; wood
products
1 Introduction
In the field forests exploitation, plenty has been achieved to this point, and this is due
to the development of the science of Forestry and consequently, to the scientific
management of forests. The basic principle of forest management is the sustainability
of profit from the forests. This principle ensures on the one hand the continuous
supply of forest products and services and on the other, the preservation,
maintenance and improvement of forests. While in forest ecosystem management
and governance, the essence of governance is its focus on governing mechanisms
which do not rest in recourse to the authority and sanctions of government.
26
Governance has been reformed in order to achieve transparency, efficiency, and
accountability and to end with sustainable economic development. The Internet
provides a new prospective with the provision of quality services within the social,
financial and cultural regional forest development (Andreopoulou et.al. 2012).The
rapid development and global spread of modern information and communication
technology (ICT) allows the developing world to leapfrog the infrastructure
constrains to access and utilize information vital to forest research and development.
Stronger emphasis is given to the analysis of the entire forest-agronomic production
systems to support the need to design agro-eco-systems that increasingly have to
fulfil multiple objectives. Such interdisciplinary analyses need input from a wide
variety of disciplines, which, in turn, are used to better define and understand the
complete agronomic production system. Provision in agricultural governance can be
implemented through ICT focusing on informing, directing, managing and
monitoring agricultural and environmental activities toward the achievement of
sustainable agriculture (Andreopoulou, et al. 2011).
Environmental and agricultural governance can be enhanced through IT
applications and techniques, ICT and e-services adoption, GIS employ, supply chain
management use and database exploitation. When properly stored, forest and wood
data can be easily retrieved and they can be processed in many ways from end users.
ICT’s give the integrated organization the opportunity to access to a large amount of
forest and wood information with a set of online services (e-services). The ability to
access huge amounts of data, effortlessly and quickly, is the incentive for better
communication, scientific growth and technology development, thus, the adoption of
ICT in public administrations as it is combined with organizational and structural
change aiming to improve public services and sustainable development (Tzoulis, et
al. 2013). Additionally, a web-based environmental database is a collection of
organized environmental data that serves multiple applications. The organization of
data in a database online, results in program data independence, data redundancy,
enhanced data consistency, improved data sharing, increased productivity, better data
accessibility and responsiveness and reduced program maintenance, as in simple
database systems.
Wood produces in appropriate and specific processes, thousands of products,
many of which are basic necessities (eg paper, wood furniture, matches, etc.)
(Voulgaridis 1996). Forests occupy 1/3 of the land surface (FAO, 2000) and play an
important role at several levels. From an economic perspective, the forestry sector is
an important source of income, as timber is used in a variety of construction,
household and industrial operations. Today, forests contribute 14% of the global
energy supply and have the ability to reach up to 50% in energy requirements
worldwide during this century (Hall, 2002). About 55% of the amount of wood used
worldwide (CRES, 2010) (which reaches 4 billion m3), is used as a wood or charcoal
for daily energy requirements that concerns heating and cooking in developing
countries. In our country, until the 1950s, 15% of energy was coming from the forest
(Kompelitou & Koskina, 2004), in the form of firewood and charcoal. In recent
years, new and innovative digital solutions and technologies play an important role
within strategic planning and decision support in wood entreneurship sector. The
study and analysis of the current situation of trade in wood products in the European
Union is an important tool in decision-making by the industries of wood. The
27
information on the supply and demand of various wood products and the forecast for
the future is sufficient by itself to reduce the risk of business (Tzoulis, et al. 2014a).
The ability to perform and track the whole follow-up of products in industries has
been doable with the implementation of information systems, of automatic
identification, which are capable to create a link between the product, the database of
the product and of process. Traceability information systems consist of processes to
maintain records that expose the trace of a particular input from suppliers to
customers. Wood traceability information systems make sure that wood derives from
sustainable sources and supply a successful technique to fight illegal logging. These
Information systems cover data on the source and movement of wood throughout
harvesting area until its final destination. It is important to achieve detailed tracking
of the log production and movement of timber and wood products aiming to
guarantee the legality of the product (Tzoulis, et al. 2014).
The value system is completed by the principles that forestry follows, among
others, the principle of multiple use, the principle of sustainability, the principle of
cost effectiveness and the principle of comprehensive and integrated approach
management. These principles governing forest management and identify the key
management rules and conduct on the implementation of any effort management
objectives. The first principle, the effort to maintain and promote the multiple
functions of forests derives from the fact that forests play a multiple role in the field
of the environment, thanks to the multiple functions that characterizes it, and their
ability to contribute decisively to maintaining nature and overall ecological balance.
The multiple use one the hand preserves the multidimensional nature and
biodiversity of the forest and on the other hand contributes more effectively /
efficiently to the social welfare and development from single use. Sustainability, as a
concept, is focusing at first on the ability of the forest to produce goods and service
in accordance with the objectives of forestry. It constituted a basic principle for forest
management from the first steps of Greek forestry, which in forced it, on the one
hand forest conservation reasons and secondly the need for continuous coverage of
annual requirements in forest products. The economic principle points the need that
throughout the management of forests to constantly strive to shape a favorable
relationship between the available instruments (expenses) and income (interest). The
comprehensive and integrated approach stems from the nature of forest ecosystems,
as a single and indivisible sets (ecosystems), as well as the need to preserve the unity
and continuity of these in the conduct of forestry activities. Basic threat of
degradation and destruction are mainly split and fragmented and unplanned
intervention in forest ecosystems (Gkatzogiannis, S.2005). The purpose of this study
is to record the effect of the economic crisis on timber trade in Greece and the use of
new technologies.
2 Methodology
In this paper, will be presented aggregated wood trade data in Greece and further,
will be discussed how the economic crisis has affected the forest, its products and
how it has affected trade in imports and exports. Moreover, the use of new
28
technologies will be discussed. The study was conducted in 2015. Two main
products categories of wood produced in the forest, construction timber and
fragmentation wood, are presented along with the annual use of wood and wood
products in Greece. We will also study the wood amount of production from public
and non-public forests. Data of timber will be recorded and the results will be
gathered in Tables. We will also examine the impact of economic crisis in wood
trade sector in Greece, in Greek forests and the trade of firewood. The three main
forest production stages are studied: the Primary (organic) Forest Production, The
Secondary (mechanical) Forest Production and Tertiary (industries) Forest
Production. Finally we present the use and utilization of new information
technologies in wood trade certification, where various traceability systems are
collected and studied in order to add flexibility and immediate feedback on the
marketing of timber space, always in collaboration with the traditional methods used
in timber trade.
The data of the Greek wood sector and therefore imports and exports in trade,
were retrieved from the Centre for Renewable Energy Sources, the Reports of Greek
Forest Services, Greek Ministry of Agriculture and FAO. Data were also collected by
relative research books and studies (Tsoumis, 1983, Voulgaridis 1996, 1996a,
Reuber και Fischer, 2011, Chaslidis, 2012, Tzoulis and Andreopoulou, 2013, Tzoulis
et.al. 2013, Tzoulis et.al, 2014). Some of the keywords that were used in internet
research are: wood trade, technologies, economic crisis, supply chain, ICT’s and
wood products.
3 Results
The annual production of wood from the forests globally to meet human needs is
approaching 3.5-4 billion cubic meters, while forecasts show that wood consumption
is increasing (Tsoumis 1983). Our country, Greece, is strong deficit in wood and
wood products and imports significant quantities of round and sawn timber, wood
pulp, etc. that are representing a total of 2,000,000 cubic meters of round wood
equivalent per year. The forest cover rate (25.4%) of industrial forests is considered
relatively small for a mountainous country. In the composition of our forests
broadleaved species dominates having a percentage of 57% against the 43% of
coniferous species. An additional percentage of 23.9% of the country's area is
covered by non-industrial (non-productive wood) forests composed mainly of
evergreen broadleaved (Ministry of Agriculture, 1992)
Two main categories of wood formed in the forest: a. Industrial timber includes:
(1) The construction timber, which is called round wood and technical wood and (2)
fragmentation wood (or industrial), which is used after the conversion into particles
by crushing for particleboards, fiber and paper. b. Firewood that is pieces, round or
slit, and are predestinated for household needs. From the total country's public forests
2.707 million cubic meters timber are produced annually (786,000 cubic meters of
industrial timber and 1.921 million cubic meters firewood, ratio 29: 71). Those
quantities estimated to be added another 400,000 cubic meters Industrial timber and
29
650,000 cubic meters firewood from private forests and plantations, community,
monasteries and other non-public forests (Voulgaridis 1996a).
Overall, the annual consumption of wood and wood products in Greece is
approximately 3,100,000 cubic meters equivalent round wood (not including
amounts of produced firewood). The part thus of the domestic production from
industrial timber is only 30-35% of the country's needs (Voulgaridis 1996). Other
species that produce small quantities of wood are: cypress, birch, plane tree, maple,
walnut, helm oak and other broad-leaved evergreen, etc. Natural forests of our
country although they are growing satisfactorily in mountainous and hilly areas,
remain in poor condition in terms of quality of the growing stock and the ability to
produce technical wood. This is due to small and fragmented throughout the
mountainous Greece production volumes, the unstable and often poor quality of the
product, the constantly growing production costs, and the lack of industries
producing finished products and powerful competition that exists on imported
products. The result is either the distribution of the technical timber be done by
loggers directly to small scale local crafts, and utilized in low value added products,
whether it remains unsold and is offered at prices below production costs or
compromising on firewood.
The evolution of the technical production of wood from the Greek forests is
obvious that during the last thirty years has a drop in its production of 60%.
Moreover, while imports in the early 80s covered only marginally the production, in
the early 90s accounted for more than twice, and arrived in the early 00s to more than
five times. Similar was the trend in terms of production of firewood (Forest Services
Report 2009). Forests provide many benefits to society and the economy and play an
important role in preserving biodiversity and mitigating the climate change, they also
covering 177 million hectares (42% of the land area) of the 27 EU Member States.
According to FAO, public sector holds 41% while private and other are holding 59%.
In Greece covers about 20% of its surface. The Greek forests and woodlands are
characterized by high ecological value and biodiversity. Of the total forest, 22% are
conifers (pine, spruce, etc.), 30% broad-leaved deciduous forests-primarily oak and
the remaining 48% are non-industrial forests. The wood-stock that forests are giving
is: coniferous: 54 m3 / ha, deciduous broadleaf: 27,8 m3 / ha, total forest ecosystem:
21,2 m3 / ha. From the total timber produced quantity that serves, as firewood is 70
% of the timber, while in Europe the same category is 7-10%. The remaining 30% of
the wood harvested, is used as construction wood and industrial wood. Their
exploitation is made by their owners in accordance with the management studies,
with their care, and approved by the local forest services. Regarding forest products
produced therein, other than wood, they include Christmas trees, ornamental plants
and herbs. Non-public forests constitute 36% of the Greek forests. In terms of
composition and capacity these forests are not lacking at all against those from
public, on the contrary too many outweigh (FAO, Global Forest Resources
Assessment 2015).
But there are factors that greatly influence the rational exploitation of non-public
forests and such are: small size in terms of surface, the capital investment reluctance
infrastructure and culture and development of these forests. The capital investment
reluctance is mainly because there is reduced and long-term performance of forests
and the social character of forest ownership and the emergence of many co-owners
30
so there are discrepancies regarding the correct management. Following there are
details on the development of imports and exports of wood products and paper in
Greece during the decade 2004-2013, where in some categories the decline observed
in recent years is vertical (Data source: FAO, Global Forest Resources Assessment
2015).
Table 1. Imports of wood and paper products (2004-2013), (FAO, 2015)
UNITS x 1000 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Round wood Cubic m 651 328 285 490 490 365 410 380 483 379
Industrial roundwood Cubic m 280 282 216 170 170 165 140 154 93 93
Industrial coniferous Cubic m 137 117 128 86 86 113 100 87 55 55
Industrial Cubic m 143 165 88 84 84 52 40 68 38 38
non-coniferous
Wood fuel Cubic m 371 46 68 320 320 200 270 226 390 286
Wood chips & Cubic m 193 358 429 24 429 3 26 49 8 14
particles
Wood residues Cubic m 1 3 6 9 9 6 11 27 97 55
Wood charcoal Metric t 51 54 63 62 62 66 56 59 61 63
Sawnwood Cubic m 918 874 898 928 670 446 370 289 227 223
Sawnwood coniferous Cubic m 725 705 796 820 538 365 315 251 196 188
Sawnwood Cubic m 193 170 102 109 132 81 55 38 31 35
non-coniferous
Wood-based panels Cubic m 482 427 506 417 413 328 274 235 146 195
Veneer sheets Cubic m 23 27 24 29 29 39 31 24 11 11
Plywood Cubic m 58 68 82 65 61 62 55 41 33 51
Particle board Cubic m 133 134 180 142 142 94 92 79 74 103
Fibreboard Cubic m 268 198 220 182 182 133 97 90 29 29
Wood pulp (chemical) Metric t 113 102 76 80 80 124 162 128 130 152
Recovered paper Metric t 6 10 8 4 4 11 6 9 19 12
Paper and paperboard Metric t 597 710 1044 701 701 732 720 572 486 537
3.1 The impact of economic crisis on Greek forests, and trade of firewood
The economic crisis that our country faces has, or is expected to have, the
following impact in wood trade on our country: 1) The total collapse of the presently
weak demand for technical timber. 2) Increase in the demand for trade firewood,
mainly oak and other hardwoods as well as beech. 3) Significant pressure from local
mountainous populations to satisfy most of their heating needs from forests, which is
obvious by the return on woodstoves and fireplaces that have been increased in
mountainous areas 4) intensifying illegal-logging in mountainous areas, even in
urban forests. 5) there is an increasing tendency in the number of seasonal dealing
with logging and as well the working period in days. The final result is the increase
31
of pressure on the "productive" public forestry’s to meet those needs, which
ultimately supply firewood. 6) species that so far were considered unfit because of
wood characteristics are now in demand for firewood because of the growing
pressure for legal and illegal firewood 7) there is a huge pressure to meet production
needs in biomass (crushing timber) in order to produce pellets, or by using logging
residues either by direct mechanical collection of forest occupied by low shrubby
vegetation. 8) seasonal increase in the price of firewood of beech and oak, which is
expected to intensify in the future. 9) the distance from the place of wood production
up to their final consumption areas causes explosive growth of prices. 10) the
imports of firewood mainly from Bulgaria are continuously growing in quick rates,.
11) there is a significant increase in the number of firewood outlets in all areas in
Greece is reported (Chaslidis, 2012).
Table 2. Exports of wood and paper products (2004-2013), (FAO, 2015)
UNITS x 1000 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Round wood Cubic m 16 16 27 36 36 7 6 11 27 26
Industrial roundwood Cubic m 1 0 21 30 30 5 5 8 21 22
Industrial coniferous Cubic m 0 0 20 23 23 4 4 6 17 8
Industrial non-coniferous Cubic m 1 0 1 7 7 1 1 1 4 14
Wood fuel Cubic m 15 16 7 5 5 2 1 3 6 4
Wood chips & particles Cubic m 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Wood residues Cubic m 0 0 7 0 0 17 12 12 4 13
Wood charcoal Metric t 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2
Sawnwood Cubic m 18 13 9 14 11 17 19 25 26 19
Sawnwood coniferous Cubic m 2 5 4 5 2 4 11 14 16 8
Sawnwood non-coniferous Cubic m 16 8 5 9 8 13 8 10 11 11
Wood-based panels Cubic m 201 200 81 82 80 150 155 232 257 178
Veneer sheets Cubic m 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1
Plywood Cubic m 10 11 13 13 11 12 12 38 22 26
Particle board Cubic m 167 155 30 34 34 81 77 96 127 74
Fibreboard Cubic m 23 32 37 33 33 55 65 97 108 77
Wood pulp (chemical) Metric t 7 5 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 2
Recovered paper Metric t 104 141 154 195 195 364 315 238 321 269
Paper and paperboard Metric t 73 72 68 119 119 82 89 92 86 87
3.2 Primary and secondary forest products
In forestry three main forest production stages exist: the Primary (organic) Forest
Production: concerning the establishment, construction, farming, improvement and
protection of forest stands, mostly studied and regulated by the Forestry measures
sectors, the Forest Efficient, the Forest Management and Forest Protection. The
Secondary (mechanical) Forest Production: concerning the opening-road
construction, exploitation, harvesting, transportation and production of forest
products. Tertiary (industries) Forest Production: is about the full refining and use all
kinds of finished products (mainly wood, resins and biomass) by humans. Wood is
32
the raw material of various primary industrial processing products (sawn timber,
plywood, etc.), which are materials for production of other secondary processing
products (eg furniture, paper). Both the primary and secondary products can be
produced by mechanical or chemical treatment (Voulgaridis, 1996a). For the main
forest products we distinguish three phases or development stages, which are:
Primary use: it begins immediately after the pre-labelling to the logging trees and
ends with the production of raw feedstock products in the cutting area, the forest road
or in the yard of the factory, the Forest Harvesting. Secondary use: it contains the use
of raw forest products, such as heating with firewood and the production of
semi-finished products, eg sawn timber, sleepers, piles, veneer etc. Tertiary use:
includes full refining and use of forest products in perfected form in their final use,
such as parquet, wood paneling, furniture, paper, packaging, wood etc.
3.3 The aspect of technologies in wood trade certification
The adoption of new technological developments and innovative management
practices will offer flexibility and immediate feedback on the marketing of timber
space (Tzoulis and Andreopoulou, 2013, Tzoulis et.al. 2013, Tzoulis et.al, 2014).
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and innovative tools and
services offer huge opportunities for everyone to advance and take advantage and
new opportunities for economic development, better service, social and cultural
developments (Tzoulis and Andreopoulou, 2013). Advances in information
technology have been identified as drivers of entrepreneurship in the field of
commercial timber (Reuber και Fischer, 2011). The internationally traded wood
should come from sustainable-managed forests (FSC & PEFC). Two certification
systems of sustainable forest management have been developed: a) FSC: Forest
Stewardship Council and b) PEFC: Program for the Endorsement of Forest
Certification schemes (ACE UK, 2012). Certification schemes have emerged in
recent years to become a significant and innovative venue for standard setting and
governance in the environmental realm. Using the FSC label requires
chain-of-custody certification, which involves tracking the origin of forest products
all through the supply chain and guaranteeing that products meet specific content
requirements. Initially, only products with 100% FSC content had access to the label.
The rules have since been revised, gradually reducing the percent thresholds,
introducing new restrictions delineating acceptable non-FSC content, and developing
an FSC label for 100% post-consumer recycled paper. In regard to reducing pressure
for deforestation, researchers have also been skeptical about certification's potential
impacts. Certification provides an inadequate counterbalance to larger economic
incentives for land-use conversion. In 1998 and 1999, European forest owners'
associations joined together to create the Pan-European Forest Certification (PEFC)
scheme to facilitate the mutual recognition of national schemes and to provide them a
common eco-label. The PEFC Council, composed of national governing bodies
primarily representing forest owner associations and the broader forestry community,
approves national schemes if they are developed in conformance with the criteria,
indicators, and rules of the umbrella scheme. In 2003, PEFC restructured itself and
went global, changing its official name to the Program for the Endorsement of Forest
33
Certification schemes while retaining the PEFC acronym. The certification model
now exists in numerous sectors, covering an ever-expanding suite of production
processes (Auld et al, 2008). The wood trade presents forest change, as it relates
forest stock change to net trade of wood products by localizing the origin of wood
consumed in a given nation (Kastner et al, 2011). Wood for trade should not come a)
from illegal cuttings, b) areas of natural value, c) gene-modified trees, d) areas with
social conflicts, e) natural forests transformed to other use (Korsnäs, 2012, Tzoulis
et.al, 2014). This situation was the first indication of the necessity for developing and
implementing systems of products follow-up (Stevens, J. et all 1998) and to increase
the efficiency of the process and its technologies, (Töyrylä, 1999) highlights that it is
possible to improve the logistics chain, the management, the supply and the
optimization of raw material. Much remains to be determined regarding the
application of international trade law to multicriteria environmental and social labels.
The objective of traceability in timber is to prevent the circulation of illegal
timber, and explore ways in which it can eliminate the export and import of illegally
harvested timber. Businesses have a growing interest in wood as overall current
trends in modern society, the timber and timber products, is the raw material for
various industrial primary processing products such as poles, sawn wood, veneer,
plywood, particleboard, fiberboard, wood pulp, etc, which are the materials for the
production of other products, such as furniture and secondary processing paper
(Tzoulis et.al., 2013). Modern innovative wood traceability systems certify the
supplier and the buyer that wood comes from sustainable sources and is a successful
way to fight illegal logging. Information systems include data on the origin and
movement of wood throughout the collection area to its final destination, ie
throughout the supply chain of wood. The most common traceability systems in
timber trade is one of the traditional methods: stamping / punching, the color
marking, barcodes (barcodes), the engraving dimensional code QR (quick response
code), Micro Wave Sensor (Experimental), microchip RFID, innovative digital
DNA of the cluster, etc. (Tzoulis and Andreopoulou, 2013, Tzoulis et.al., 2014) and
finally the traditional labeling with a metal plate that is used now in Greece. Various
innovative methods, such as satellite systems and remote sensing systems, have been
proposed in international level and other are still under research (Brack et.al. 2002).
The web-database technologies are also utilized in the marketing of wood, for
example in a DB for European and tropical woods, which lists the species of wood,
the physical and chemical properties and their characteristics and their potential uses
(Tzoulis et.al. , 2014a). An online database is an effective tool for management and
management in general, since it is a data set that has some logical structure and
grouping. The database structure provides data independence, have more consistent
data, thereby improving the exchange of data, increases productivity, improves the
accessibility of data and reduces the maintenance and management of the program.
Specifically, in the modern competitive timber business, especially SMEs in the
region, integrated digital management and promotion systems utilize databases
incorporated in governance and automated management systems. The business
environment requires fast, efficient and reliable management of huge amounts of
information on timber for products, suppliers, customers, materials, machinery,
facilities, financial-accounting firm, office support and many more items. Many
organizations have supported the idea of marketing using techniques segmentation,
34
identifying marketing strategies and creating special marketing departments (Tzoulis
et.al, 2014a). The online databases have recently emerged as a fairly important
component of any company; moreover a database supports the modern concept of
marketing as it can gather all the necessary information.
4 Conclusions
Our country has a deficit in wood. Thus, the larger amounts of wood now
imported from abroad. Most Greek forests nowadays are "unproductive" forests that
mainly produce firewood and only small amounts of technical timber, timber with
good quality and without errors. In trade, the species derived from the Greek forests
are mostly fir, beech, black pine and poplar (plantation). Previously there was
sufficient production amounts and from other wood species, e.g. chestnut, walnut,
cypress, ash (ash, honey), elm (elm), pine vitiligo (robolo), juniper (cedar), maple
(maple) and linden (lime).It is a fact that the social and economic environment of the
era of the crisis and the scale of the threat, in principle generate pessimism about the
future of forests in our country. Recent history also teaches us that in all times of
crisis the forests had the same major disaster, but objectively helped the survival of
people, and some bounced back after improving social and economic conditions. It is
therefore expected that, despite the hopes and probably efforts of several national
forests already suffer and will suffer a growing extent in the coming years the
consequences of crisis. It is up to the individuals and collective associations to adopt
the right strategy both to confront the threat and to highlight and capitalize on the
opportunity. In the field of exploitation of forests a lot have been achieved so far, and
this is due to the development of the science of Forestry and the scientific
management of forests. The basic principle of this management is the sustainability
of profit participation from the forests. This principle ensures on the one hand the
continuous supply of forest products and services and on the other the preservation,
maintenance and improvement of forests. Therefore, the adoption of new
technological solutions and innovative digital management practices of all data is
required, that will provide flexibility, immediate feedback and fast decision-making.
References
1. ACE UK, (2012) Natural and renewable, traceability.
http://www.ace-uk.co.uk/natural/traceability
2. Auld, G., Gulbrandsen, L. H., & McDermott, C. L. (2008). Certification schemes
and the impacts on forests and forestry. Annual review of environment and
resources, 33(1), 187.
3. Andreopoulou, Z, Manos, B., Viaggi, D. and Polman, N. (Editors)
2011. Agricultural and Environmental Informatics, Governance, and
Management: Emerging Research Applications. IGI Global. USA.
35
4. Andreopoulou Z., G.P.Cesaretti, R. Misso. (2012) Sostenibilita dello sviluppo e
dimensione territoriale. Eds. FrancoAngeli. Italy. (Development Sustainability
And Territorial Dimension: The Role Of Regional Systems With Rural Vocation)
5. Brack D., Gray K., Hayman G. 2002. Controlling The International Trade In
Illegally Logged Timber And Wood Products. Sustainable Development
Program. Royal Instituteof International Affairs.
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2002/timber_mafia/viewpoints/brack.pdf
6. Chaslidis, P. (2012) The impact of economic crisis on production firewood from
Greek forests. Threats and opportunities. (January 2012)
7. CRES, (2010) Centre for Renewable Energy Sources ( http://www.cres.gr).
8. FAO, (2000). FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000.Hall, J. P. (2002).
Sustainable production of forest biomass for energy. The Forestry
Chronicle, 78(3), 391-396.
9. Gkatzogiannis, S. (2005) Natural Environment and Forestry. Sustainability and
trends of forest management. Paper presented at workshop held in the Forest
Research Institute of Athens by Directorate-General of Forestry and natural
environment of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food, on the occasion
World Day of Environment (June 5).
10. Hall, J. P. (2002). Sustainable production of forest biomass for energy. The
Forestry Chronicle, 78(3), 391-396.
11. Kastner, T., Erb, K. H., & Nonhebel, S. (2011) International wood trade and
forest change: A global analysis. Global Environmental Change, 21(3), 947-956.
12. Kastner, T., Kastner, M., Nonhebel, S., (2011) Tracing distant environmental
impacts of agricultural products from a consumer perspective. Ecological
Economics 70, 1032–1040.
13. Kompelitou, M., & Koskina, E., (2004) Energy use of biomass from wood.
14. Korsnas, (2012) Traceability of wood. http://www.korsnas.com/fr/Om-
Korsnas/Forestry/Miljoarbetet/Traceability-of-wood/.
15. Ministry Of Agriculture (MoA), (1992) Results of the First National Inventory of
Forests. Gen. Sec. Forestry and CB, General. N / Department of Forestry and
VAT, Athens (p. 135)
16. MPREE, (2011) Ministry of Productive Reconstruction, Environment and
Energy. ΥΠΕΚΑ, (2011) Development of Forest Resources Division: Business
Review Forest year service 2009. Athens 2011,
http://www.ypeka.gr/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=eACSoTp6bFY%3D&tabid=813
&language=el-GR
17. Stevens, J., Ahmad, M., Ruddell, S. (1998) “Forest Products Certification: A
survey of manufacturers”, Forest Products Journal, Vol 48, N° 6.
18. Töyrylä, I. (1999) “Realizing the potential of traceability- A case study research”,
Helsinki University of technology, Espoo, Finland. Doctoral thesis.
19. Tzoulis, I., & Andreopoulou, Z. (2013). Emerging traceability technologies as a
tool for quality wood trade. Procedia Technology, 8, 606-611.
36
20. Tzoulis, I., Andreopoulou, Z., Koliouska, C., Tsekouropoulos, G., Samathrakis,
V. (2013). WooDB: a DBMS approach as a marketing tool for wood
entrepreneurship. Procedia Technology, 8, 275-284.
21. Tzoulis, I. K., Andreopoulou, Z. S., Voulgaridis, E. (2014). Wood Tracking
Information Systems to Confront Illegal Logging. AGRÁRINFORMATIKA/
JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL INFORMATICS, 5(1), 9-17.
22. Tzoulis, I., Andreopoulou, Z., Koliouska, C., Tsekouropoulos, G., Samathrakis,
V. (2014a). Database management systems in wood entrepreneurship and
marketing. International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and
Ecology 6, 10(2), 190-202.
23. Tsoumis, G. (1983) Structure, Properties and Utilization of Wood. (Science and
Technology of Wood). Thessalonica
24. Voulgaridis, E. (1996) Maintenance and improvement of Wood. (University
courses). Publications Service, AUTH, Thessaloniki.
25. Voulgaridis, E. (1996a) Wood protection in Greece. 4th meeting of Cost Action
E2: Wood Durability, 17-19 Oct. 1996. Athens, GR (pp 18).
37