People, trees and forests in 2020: Is there a role for the forest industry?

摘要

We've been asked today to do the impossible--determine the role of the forest industry in 2020. For someone who has trouble planning for the next weekend--this is a difficult task indeed. And ifI had such clairvoyant powers, I would have sold all my technology stocks about a year ago and bought a couple of oil wells. Defining the forest industry 20 years from now is a considerable challenge when we don't know with any certainty what it will look like one year from now. Or more to the point, what the forest products markets will look like a year from now. A sage once said that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. With that in mind, I'd like to begin by bringing to you an important historical perspective from nearly 20 years ago---and it is a personal perspective that still plays a significant role in my own vision of forestry. In 1981, I was about to graduate from Laval University's Faculty of Forestry. One of my professors and mentors was the late Dr. Marcel Lortie, with whom I'm sure many of you are familiar. In a characteristically straightforward manner, Dr. Lortie said to me "Jean-Pierre, soon you will be a forestry engineer. Could you tell me what you learned over the last four years?"