Become a member
Membership of IUFRO is open to any institution concerned with the promotion, support or conduct of research related to forests, trees and forest products.
Wood products are an important part of today’s culture and thus wood products are an integral part of IUFRO since the Working Party concerns the foundations of how people learn about and use wood products.
Wood Culture is an interdisciplinary research area which provides a better understanding of the use and social aspects of wood from a cultural perspective. Research in Wood Culture improves people's relationship with nature and opens new ways to understand wood from an economic, environmental, and social value perspective.
Research areas emphasized by the Wood Culture Working Party:
- The historical and contemporary use of wood, including preservation of wooden heritage, in different regions or countries in the world
- The development and culture of the use of wood products; including furniture, paper, housing components, lumber, veneer, plywood, oriented strand board, and sculptures.
- The culture of wood in different societies as part of religion, literature, philosophy, and art
- The promotion of the use and culture of wood in all societies and at all levels of education
- The education and promotion of the positive aspects of wood, such as the beauty and strength of wood, the benefits of wood to ecology and the environment, and the historical and social aspects of wood
- Coordination of programs with the International Wood Culture Society (IWCS)
Wood Culture plans to have research papers submitted to IUFRO Division 5 and World Congress Meetings and to develop a network of people interested in wood culture.
The objective of this unit is to provide a interdisciplinary forum for the exchange of ideas related to the foundation, application, and practices of wood culture and to provide applicable approaches to both research and everyday life.
Wood Culture will be linked to 9.03.02 Forest Culture and 5.11.00 Non-wood Forest Products.
STATE OF KNOWLEDGE
Wood products have been used historically since the early history of mankind. Research has focused on properties of products, improved utility, sources for energy, reconstituted novel products, and preservation of wooden heritage.
The way individual people and entire cultures relate to wood products needs to be examined more carefully to get the full benefit of wood products to society.
