Many coconut palm trees felled or damaged in the Philippines during Typhoon Haiyan will be used to rebuild homes and make furniture there.
Haiyan killed more than 6100 people and left around 1800 missing when it hit the central Philippines on 8 November. AAP reports more than 16 million coconut palm trees were knocked over.
Australian Red Cross worker Chris Howe is co-ordinating a programme to use some of the felled trees in the massive rebuilding.
He says timber could be harvested from around eight million trees, creating a huge resource for coconut farmers who saw their crops wiped out.
"Instead of giving money away, relief agencies are investing money and then getting a return in the form of the timber," he told AAP on Thursday.
Mr Howe said trees that were not big enough to be milled could be mulched or chipped for farmers.
The landscape in Tacloban, a month after Haiyan. Photo: AFP
