Investing in timber is not about chopping down trees and changing the land use, explains Gillian Diesen, client portfolio manager, thematic equities, Pictet Asset Management.

She won’t touch natural forests that are ecologically unique, and invests only in forests that have been sustainably managed for centuries — and should continue to do so because wood is an important resource.

When investing in timber, Pictet is unique in that it looks across the whole timber value chain: starting from the forest, through all the processes which transform the trees into wood products (such as lumber, pulp and paper), to the actual end-use products.