This hit hard against workers in the sector, and those in rural areas of forest were often very hard hit. However, in order to emerge quickly from the crisis, government stimulus packages to re-energise the construction industries should include the development of strategies to use more renew'able materials, particularly wood. This would serve the double purpose of stimulating the w'ood and forestry' industries and enabling strategies to combat climate change. The opportunity' created by infrastructure investment should be harnessed in order to better develop the industry' and improve training of workers in order that they better understand issues of sustainable forest management and, therefore, make a better contribution to forestry to enable mitigation of climate change. The reports and evidence from trade unions in the industry' shows a tendency for social standards to be at great risk or actually declining at a time when w'orsening standards can least be afforded.