“Introducir la madera en la construcción es una forma de contribuir a la sostenibilidad”, afirma José Manuel Cabrero
"Introducing wood in construction is a way to contribute to sustainability," says José Manuel Cabrero
The University of Navarra hosted the II seminar on Wood Construction.
"Introducing wood in construction is a way to contribute to sustainability, to reduce CO2 emissions, and at the same time to ensure proper maintenance of forests." This was stated by José Manuel Cabrero, professor at the School of Architecture of the University of Navarra José Manuel Cabrero during the II seminar of Wood Construction that took place in the academic center.
Throughout the workshop the attendees discussed the advantages of wood applied to construction, as well as forests, eco-innovation and sustainability: "For wood to have environmental advantages it must come from a known source and, for this, different global environmental organizations have generated forest certification seals that guarantee its origin, which ensure that it comes from a known forest and that its felling has been done in a sustainable manner," said the expert.
In this aspect the region is a leader with respect to the rest of Spain, since "42% of Navarre's forests are certified, i.e. there is an external entity that guarantees that they are managed properly".
Advantages of using wood
Regarding the advantages of wood, José Manuel Cabrero stressed that this is "the only material that really contributes to the reduction of CO2 emissions". In this sense, he indicated that "increasing wood consumption by 4% per year would imply a reduction of 150 million tons of CO2 emitted into the environment".
In this line, he emphasized that "the use of wood is a way to maintain the forests in an adequate way. Hence the importance of convincing people that taking advantage of this material does not imply its disappearance, but quite the opposite, since making a profit from them implies that someone is maintaining them".
Dozens of students, engineers from Building, architects and other professionals participated in this activity organized by the association for the Spanish Forest Certification (PEFC) together with the University of Navarra and the association of Wood Entrepreneurs of Navarra (ADEMAN). The Biodiversity Foundation, the European Social Fund and the Government of Navarra, among other institutions, also collaborated.