Sustainable Forest Management as a driver to increase forest sector competitiveness

Transcription

1 AN(14)7546:1 Copa-Cogeca Workshop October 8, 2014 Sustainable Forest Management as a driver to increase forest sector competitiveness Mr. Johannes Prem Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, Austria

2 CONTENT Part I: Part II: Part III: Part IV: Forests in Austria (Facts & figures) Forestry in Austria Q: What is needed for economic viability? Q: What is needed for SFM? Conclusions

3 I - FORESTS IN AUSTRIA Forest Europe Indicator 1.1 Forest Area ha available for wood supply 84%

4 I - FORESTS IN AUSTRIA Forest Europe Indicator 1.2 Growing Stock 337 m³/ha 241 m³/ha

5 I - FORESTS IN AUSTRIA MULTIFUNCTIONALITY Production The basic principle: All forests should cover all functions. Protection Environment Recreation

6 I - FORESTS IN AUSTRIA PRODUCTIVE FUNCTIONS Timber is the most important forest product. Its sustainable production has a long tradition.

7 I - FORESTS IN AUSTRIA PRODUCTIVE FUNCTIONS Forest Europe Indicator 3.1 Increment and fellings Annual increment (mio. m³ over bark) Annual felling (mio. m³ over bark) 27,3 31,3 30,4 19,5 18,8 25,9 Utilisation rate 71 % 60 % 85 % Source: BFW, National Forest Inventory

8 in million m³ of timber harvested, under bark I - FORESTS IN AUSTRIA PRODUCTIVE FUNCTIONS Forest Europe Indicator 3.2 Roundwood (removals) 25 storms Emma & Paula storm Kyrill 21, year-ø: 18.4 m 3 17,

9 I - FORESTS IN AUSTRIA PROTECTIVE FUNCTIONS Forest Europe Indicators 5.1 & 5.2 Austria is an alpine country, about 2/3 of the total area is alpine terrain. Stable forests are essential for protecting human life and infrastructure against soil erosion, floods, avalanches, rock fall, land slides etc.

10 I - FORESTS IN AUSTRIA - ENVIRONMENTAL FUNCTIONS BIODIVERSITY Forest Europe Indicator Protected forests e.g. EU Programme Natura 2000: 43% of the Austrian Natura 2000 areas relate to forests. In Austria about 659,000 hectares of forest are part of protected areas according to different categories of nature protection laws.

11 I - FORESTS IN AUSTRIA - ENVIRONMENTAL FUNCTIONS CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION Austria pursues a strategy of maximising the positive effect of forests by SFM and using timber. Sustainable forest management ensures high level growing stocks Using wood as a replacement for CO 2 -intensive materials such as cement or steel Using wood as a replacement for fossil energy sources Long-term CO 2 -storage in forest products Forest Europe Indicator 1.4 Carbon stock 786 Mt C in ,9 Mt C in 2010

12 I - FORESTS IN AUSTRIA RECREATIONAL FUNCTIONS Forest Europe Indicator 6.10 Accessibility for recreation Tourism is among the most important economic sectors in Austria. Forests provide scenic beauty and a variety of services.

13 II - FORESTRY IN AUSTRIA 47.6% of total land area are forests about 145,000 forest enterprises Revenue mainly from roundwood Removals 2013: 17.4 million m³ Strong and export oriented wood and paper industry Large timber processing capacities Increasing use of wood for energetic purposes Forests play an important role in Austria with respect to farmers income and the value-added in rural areas. However, due to the small scaled structure of forestry and the alpine terrain, Austria suffers from a competitive disadvantage. High demand for wood (e.g. roundwood imports 2013: 8.2 million m³) Mobilizing domestic wood resources has become a major goal of the Austrian forest policy. Therefore the possibility to gain income from forestry (economic viability) is crucial! ECONOMIC VIABILITY IS A PRECONDITION FOR MOBILIZING WOOD RESOURCES!

14 II - FORESTRY IN AUSTRIA EXCURSUS: WHAT IS NEEDED FOR ECONOMIC VIABILITY? Demand for forest products and services promoting wood products

15 II - FORESTRY IN AUSTRIA

16 II - FORESTRY IN AUSTRIA EXCURSUS: WHAT IS NEEDED FOR ECONOMIC VIABILITY? Demand for forest products and services promoting wood products creating advantageous conditions for the wood processing industry Confidence in a stable legal, institutional and economic framework long-term investments require solid/predictable conditions Special inheritance law and inheritance taxes to ensure a smooth handover of forest holdings to the next generation without endangering economic viability Legal framework (Forest Act) without excessive administrative effort and without hampering entrepreneurship of forest owners Taxes consistent with profitability of forest Subsidies to facilitate necessary investments Know-how Extension service (advisory service) to avoid bad investments In addition, family property and a long SFM tradition is auxiliary SFM is self-evident for forest owners in Austria Forest owners try to hand over their forests in the best possible condition to the next generation SFM IS A PRECONDITION FOR ECONOMIC VIABILITY!

17 III - WHAT IS NEEDED FOR SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT? 1) A solid and balanced legal framework 2) A functioning institutional framework 3) A good knowledge base 4) Forest owners individual motivation to SFM 5)?

18 III - WHAT IS NEEDED FOR SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT? A solid and balanced legal framework A clear and stable property law to ensure long-term land tenure incl. inheritance law and inheritance taxes ensuring a smooth handover of forest holdings to the next generation without endangering economic viability Forest Act - understandable and relevant to practice without excessive administrative effort without hampering entrepreneurship of forest owners Tax system without incentives for evasion of taxes e.g. through income taxes based on soil productivity rather than on actual logging

19 III - WHAT IS NEEDED FOR SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT? 1) A solid and balanced legal framework 2) A functioning institutional framework 3) A good knowledge base 4) Forest owners individual motivation to SFM 5)?

20 III - WHAT IS NEEDED FOR SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT? A functioning institutional framework Effective and efficient (forest) authorities Ensuring law enforcement Providing extension service (advisory service) and granting subsidies facilitates getting in touch with forest owners Strong interest groups (chambers and voluntary interest groups) Lobbying for practicable legislation & sufficient budgetary resources Providing extension service for their members An efficient instrument for balancing the different interests on forests National Forest Programme (Austrian Forest Dialogue)

21 F e d e r a l III - WHAT IS NEEDED FOR SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT? Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management Department III Forestry mandatory voluntary Erosion, Torrent and Avalanche Control Service Federal Forest Office and Research Centre for Forests (BFW) Forest Authority at provincial level (9) Technical Forestry High School Bruck/Mur Technical Forestry School Waidhofen/Ybbs Austrian Chamber of Agriculture Austrian Federation of Forest Owners Provincial Headquarters (7) Regional Offices (21) Technical Staff Units (3) Forest Training Centers (FAST) Ort and Ossiach Chambers of Agriculture at provincial level (9), Forestry departments 21 P r o v i n c i a l l e v e l Forest Owners Associations at provincial level Forest Authority at district level (74) University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) R E P R E S E N T A T I O N O F I N T E R E S T S Local Headquarters (~200) + ~ 300 rangers in Tirol and Vorarlberg Chambers of Agriculture at district level Austrian Forest Owner Cooperative (Österreichischer Waldverband) 8 provincial associations 257 local forest owner cooperatives forest owners ( ha) F O R E S T O W N E R S

22 III - WHAT IS NEEDED FOR SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT? 1) A solid and balanced legal framework 2) A functioning institutional framework 3) A good knowledge base 4) Forest owners individual motivation to SFM 5)?

23 III - WHAT IS NEEDED FOR SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT? A good knowledge base Education and further training Research to be able to recognize changes and adapt adequately and early enough the (legal) framework to improve efficiency and ensure economic viability Monitoring (e.g. National Forest Inventory) and reporting to evaluate implementation of relevant forest law in case of undesirable developments: to adapt the (legal) framework Indicators with actual values and target values The Austrian set consists of the Forest Europe C&I supplemented by one national criterion und several national indicators in total: 7 criterions and 70 indicators

24 III - WHAT IS NEEDED FOR SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT? 1) A solid and balanced legal framework 2) A functioning institutional framework 3) A good knowledge base 4) Forest owners individual motivation to SFM 5)?

25 III - WHAT IS NEEDED FOR SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT? Forest owners individual motivation to manage their forests in a sustainable way Possibility to gain income from forestry (economic viability)! Family property and a long SFM tradition SFM is self-evident for forest owners in Austria. In Austria forest owners try to hand over their forests in the best possible condition to the next generation. Confidence in stability of the legal and economic framework long-term investments require stable/predictable conditions in case of inheriting a forest holding, the inheritance tax should not endanger the future economic viability

26 III - WHAT IS NEEDED FOR SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT? 1) A solid and balanced legal framework 2) A functioning institutional framework 3) A good knowledge base 4) Forest owners individual motivation to SFM 5)?

27 IV CONCLUSIONS FLASHBACK: WHAT IS NEEDED FOR ECONOMIC VIABILITY? Demand for forest products and services promoting wood products creating advantageous conditions for the wood processing industry Confidence in a stable legal, institutional and economic framework long-term investments require solid/predictable conditions Special inheritance law and inheritance taxes to ensure a smooth handover of forest holdings to the next generation without endangering economic viability Legal framework (Forest Act) without excessive MANAGEMENT? administrative effort and without hampering entrepreneurship of forest owners 1) A solid and balanced legal framework Taxes consistent with profitability of forest 2) A functioning institutional framework Subsidies to facilitate necessary investments Know-how 3) A good knowledge base Extension service (advisory service) to avoid bad 4) investments Forest owners individual motivation to SFM In addition, family property and a long SFM tradition 5)? Economic is auxiliaryviability SFM is self-evident for forest owners in Austria Forest owners try to hand over their forests in the best possible condition to the next generation SFM IS A PRECONDITION FOR ECONOMIC VIABILITY! ECONOMIC VIABILITY IS A PRECONDITION FOR SFM WHAT IS NEEDED FOR SUSTAINABLE FOREST

28 IV CONCLUSIONS SFM requires economic viability Economic viability requires SFM Sustainable forest management Forest sector competitiveness requires both, SFM and economic viability Economic viability

29 IV CONCLUSIONS SFM and economic viability are tightly knit. SFM is an essential contributor to economic viability SFM needs economic viability Forest sector competitiveness requires both, SFM and economic viability SFM IN AUSTRIA IS A DRIVER TO INCREASE FOREST SECTOR COMPETITIVENESS. SFM IN AUSTRIA - A STORY OF SUCCESS!

30 CONTACT Johannes Prem Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management Division III/1 Forest Policy and Forest Information 1030 Vienna, Marxergasse 2 johannes.prem@bmlfuw.gv.at Web: