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Forests and conflict have always been tightly linked. Cyprus, during the Bronze Age, had lost most of its trees by 1200 BC, largely to provide fuel to smelt copper for weapons. In England in the 1660s, civil war led to widespread deforestation, with a resulting call to plant more trees kick-starting modern conservation. And now Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is demanding that the world once again rethink the all too neglected relationship between trees and power.
As the largest wood exporter in the world, Russia’s timber finds its way into homes across Europe and the US via our furniture, our paper and (especially with the rise of biomass fuel, which burns wood to produce energy), via our heating. In 2021 the UK imported £295 million worth of Russian wood products. Even our KitKat wrappers are not in the clear, a new report from the NGO Earthsight reveals.