MISSION: SUSTAINABILITY BY DESIGN

GreenWood is designing sustainable development for the real world. We work alongside residents of remote forest communities to help them earn more by managing their forests and creating valuable wood products than they would otherwise derive from conventional slash-and-burn agriculture or illegal logging. We employ small-scale, appropriate woodworking technologies and creative niche marketing to support good forest management and sustainable development.

GreenWood:

• Teaches men and women of all ages to become skilled artisans and producers of high-value woodwork.
• Helps those artisans sell their products in local, regional and export markets.
• Works with forestry professionals and communities to empower local residents to act as forest stewards and to provide a sustainable supply of raw materials for artisan production and other traditional uses.

To achieve these goals, GreenWood promotes appropriate, small-scale, woodworking technology, the efficient use of lesser-known and lower-value tree species, waste wood and nontimber forest products, as well as wood from well-managed and independently certified forests.
 

“The WoodMizer bandsaw mill is not only important for improving our houses, for increasing local processing and market options. It is also very important for increasing the self-confidence of the group’s members and community support for forest management.”
—German Oliva Herrera, president of the Sociedad Colectiva Romero Barahona y Asociados (sawyer’s collective), Copén, Honduras