Campaign for Swiss wood
Far too often, the sustainable Swiss raw material wood is left standing in the forest. Yet much more wood could be harvested in this country without harming the forest. With the new campaign #WOODVETIA, the forestry and timber industry and the FOEN want to convince the population to use Swiss wood for new buildings, renovation projects or when buying furniture.
Forest management has a positive impact on forest services: A well-tended and healthy forest can meet the demands placed on it, for example, as a recreational area, for protection against natural hazards, to ensure high drinking water quality, in the sequestration of carbon dioxide or to maintain jobs in the forestry and timber sector. Around 5 million cubic meters of wood are harvested from Swiss forests every year. Without the forests being overexploited, around a third more could be used in addition.
Encounters of the wooden kind
The focus of the awareness campaign launched by the forestry and timber industry and the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN #WOODVETIA are life-size figures of Swiss personalities. These are each made from a type of wood that comes from the region of origin of the person portrayed. Zurich artist Inigo Gheyselinck creates the statues with the involvement of various partners from the forestry and wood industries. Foresters, sawyers and woodturners are among those involved in the artistic process. The selection of the statues was made by a jury consisting of representatives from the forest and timber industry and the FOEN.
The first Swiss personality to start the #WOODVETIA figurine series is Marie Tussaud, the founder of the world-famous waxworks. The figure was carved from a Bernese winter linden tree. According to her, Tussaud was born in Bern, even though the official place of birth is Strasbourg.
Throughout the year, new wooden figures are repeatedly placed in public spaces throughout Switzerland, so that the population encounters them in surprising places. In the process, the figures are always freely accessible. Because only when people touch and smell the statues can they experience the sustainable raw material wood in a sensual way and become enthusiastic about it. At the end of 2017, all the figures - we will not reveal how many there will be - will be presented together in Bern. Until then, the website www.woodvetia.ch Information about the locations of the statues. Further information about Swiss wood is also compiled on the same page.
Increase demand for Swiss wood
The #WOODVETIA campaign aims to encourage consumers to choose Swiss wood. The "Swiss wood origin mark" distinguishes this material at a glance. In this way, they are to be made aware of the importance of Swiss wood in new buildings, in renovation or extension projects, in interior fittings or when buying furniture. Only in this way can the value chain linking the processing stages of wood - from the forest to the end customer - remain intact. In concrete terms: If the demand for Swiss wood on the part of the population is high, sawmills in Switzerland, for example, can sell a lot of Swiss wood to customers such as timber builders or carpenters for further processing. This ultimately benefits the forest owners. The timber revenue makes an important contribution to a functioning forest management, because the forest management has a positive effect on the forest services.
Source: Initiative Wood Switzerland
