Forestry South Africa (FSA) has released The South African Forestry Sector: Growing the Solution, a six-minute film showing how forestry helps address some of the biggest challenges facing South Africa and the world. The video is now live on the FSA YouTube channel, on the FSA website homepage, and members are invited to download it, share it and use it however it best serves them via this Video Download Link.
The film was made in time for Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) Minister, Mr David Maynier’s, visit to the sector. The aim was to introduce the Minister to forestry and the forest product value chain, showing how the sector contributes to many priorities within the Department’s portfolio. These include climate change, biodiversity, the circular economy, green jobs, rural employment, transformation and the downstream industries that add to the national economy. The film showcases what the sector already does, letting its impact speak for itself.
“Many of the challenges that matter most to South Africa are ones that forestry is already helping to solve. Our trees store carbon, our landscapes protect biodiversity, our operations create work in rural communities where there are few other options, and our fibre products can be reused and recycled repeatedly. This film shows that. We hope members will use it freely, wherever it helps them to tell the story of the sector,” said Dr Ronald Heath, Director of Research and Protection at Forestry South Africa.
The video follows the industry from the growers and landscapes where it begins to the everyday products that depend on it. It covers replanting and residue reuse, the rural communities where forestry is often the main source of work and services, the conservation corridors that run through plantation land and the research helping the sector adapt to a changing climate. It closes by presenting forestry as a community and as a source of nature-based solutions.
FSA wants the film to work for the whole sector, not only for one visit. Members are free to use it in presentations, on websites, on social media, at events, in community and customer engagements and in any other setting where it helps to tell the forestry story. No permission is needed. FSA would be happy if members tagged the FSA channel when they share the video via LinkedIn or Instagram, but this is a courtesy and not a condition. We would also like to know where and how the video has been used, so we gauge its value. Please email this to katy@forestrysouthafrica.co.za
The film owes a great deal to the people who gave their time and their material. FSA thanks small grower Buhle Msweli, FSA Executive Committee vice chair, who narrated the film and also appears on camera. Buhle’s voice and presence carry the story from beginning to end and give it the authenticity that only someone from within the sector can bring.
FSA also thanks the members who generously shared their stock footage without hesitation: Sappi, Mondi, PG Bison, NCT, Merensky Timber and SAFCOL. Thanks go to the Forest Sector Charter Council (FSCC) and She Is Forestry SA (SIFSA) for their contribution, and to the Paper and Allied Manufacturers of South Africa (PAMSA) for providing the recycling footage. Their willingness to collaborate made the film richer and showed the sector working together.
