Andrew Heald
Andrew Heald
Director - NGPTA
The Role of Industrial Plantations in Producing Wood Products in Today’s Global Bioeconomy
September 13, 2022 - 11:30 AM
Heald will discuss the role of industrial plantations in producing wood products in today’s global economy — exploring the social, environmental, and economic challenges of expanding forestry plantations. How can we best ensure that plantations are integrated with other land uses and create value for local communities? Heald will share ideas and questions from 20 years of practical plantation forestry experience.
Speaker Biography
Andrew is based in Edinburgh, Scotland and has over 25 years’ experience in sustainable forestry and plantation management. He is a co-founder and Director of NGPTA, which has developed and manages large scale forest landscape restoration projects in Ghana, Brazil, Mozambique, and Chile. He has worked for leading international forest product companies including UPM and Mondi, and for major NGOs such as WWF International and FSC International.
Andrew is a professional member of the Institute of Chartered Foresters and has worked at a senior level in UK, Ghana and Uruguay. In 2020 Andrew was invited to become a member of the UK’s Government’s Expert Committee on Forest Science and has previously been a member of the UK’s Woodland Carbon Code’s Advisory Board, and the Expert Group on Timber Trade and Statistics.
Andrew had over 20 years’ experience in forest management and chain custody certification. In 2017 he convened the Economic Chamber at FSC’s global General Assembly in Vancouver, representing over 350 international delegates. He is an ISO 14001 Lead Auditor and recently facilitated an FSC International working group on a “continuous improvement program” to enable certification access for smallholders. From 2015 to 2021 he was a Director of the UK Woodland Assurance Standard Ltd, a globally unique national forest certification standard recognised by both FSC and PEFC.
Andrew is also currently the lead consultant supporting the University of Edinburgh with their multi-million-pound carbon investment in forestry, woodland, and peatland restoration.
Andrew is passionate about better communication and spends too much time on Twitter.