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North America and Europe have some of the best-policed timber harvesting programmes in the world .
IMAGE : PIXABAY footprint is negated by the transport that moves the timber out of the forests , there are machines that are required to cut the timber , there is a processing plant that needs to process the timber .
Eventually , the negative carbon footprint becomes a neutral carbon footprint and that is why we talk about carbon neutrality . Timber is the only building material that is carbon neutral , which is a very important part of the process of sustainability .
It ' s not that more houses are built out of bricks and mortar than timber in South Africa because it is not a true reflection of carbon neutrality , it is because people are not educated about timber in South Africa .
If you look at North America , about 95 % of all houses in are made from timber . In Australia , 85 % of all new houses are built out of timber and in New Zealand it ' s about 82 % of new houses that are made from timber .
" You ' ve got to ask yourself , why ?" he says .
// OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2017 49