ENVIRONMENT AND SECURITY INITIATIVE ADVISORY BOARD MEETING29-30 September 2005, Bratislava, Slovakia
Forest Land Use in the context of
Environment and Security in Europe
Volker Sasse and Constanze Schaaff
FAO Sub-regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe (SEUR), Budapest
ENVIRONMENT AND SECURITY INITIATIVE ADVISORY BOARD MEETING29-30 September 2005, Bratislava, Slovakia
Conglomerate of all human activities in forests (forestry, recreation services, non-wood forest products etc.) and benefits provided by forests ecosystems (e.g. water retention and filtering,
carbon storage etc.) corresponding to society’s needs and market demands
Forest Land Use (FLU)
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ENVIRONMENT AND SECURITY INITIATIVE ADVISORY BOARD MEETING29-30 September 2005, Bratislava, Slovakia
Climate change and forests
1. Damage to forests through climate change
2. Forests role in mitigating climate change– Conservation of forests– Management of forests– Production of renewable and carbon-neutral energy as
well as products as temporary carbon sinks and substitution of high-energy materials
ENVIRONMENT AND SECURITY INITIATIVE ADVISORY BOARD MEETING29-30 September 2005, Bratislava, Slovakia
Changes in societal needs and market demands
• Traditionally: wood production, only about 60 % of sustainable harvesting level is used in Europe (west and east), increasing imports of forest products from CIS
• Increasingly: Biodiversity, water, oxygen, CO2 sink, non-wood products and services, recreation
ENVIRONMENT AND SECURITY INITIATIVE ADVISORY BOARD MEETING29-30 September 2005, Bratislava, Slovakia
Regional differences
Economic Social
aspects
Environmental
West
East
ENVIRONMENT AND SECURITY INITIATIVE ADVISORY BOARD MEETING29-30 September 2005, Bratislava, Slovakia
Threats
• Illegal logging (poverty driven/profit driven)
• Damages by calamities, fires, storms (link to climate change)
• Urbanization/intensive tourism
• Secondary threats via erosion land degradation
• Loss of biodiversity - nature conservation
ENVIRONMENT AND SECURITY INITIATIVE ADVISORY BOARD MEETING29-30 September 2005, Bratislava, Slovakia
Example: Radioactive contamination of forests
• After Chernobyl over 4 Mio ha forest and other wooded land contaminated
• Forests as physical barriers through stabilization, absorption, redistribution and self- purification
• Direct economic losses through harvesting constraints• Effects on forest animals’ and on human health, through
– Background Contamination– Use of NWFP & water
• Threat through forest fires • Threat through water cycles
ENVIRONMENT AND SECURITY INITIATIVE ADVISORY BOARD MEETING29-30 September 2005, Bratislava, Slovakia
Hampering Factors
• Small scale ownership (average ownership about 1 ha)
• Fragmented policy framework
• Focus on forestry (wood production)
• Property rights for scarce benefits/resources
• Forestry management partly over-regulated
• Lack in regional integration in Europe
ENVIRONMENT AND SECURITY INITIATIVE ADVISORY BOARD MEETING29-30 September 2005, Bratislava, Slovakia
Society
Forestry land use(private and state)
socialeconomic environmental
economic
socialenvironmental
Sustainable Forest Management
biodiversity, water
management, landscape
protection etc.
rural development
© S
asse
(20
04)
Society’s needs and market demands towards forest land use
ENVIRONMENT AND SECURITY INITIATIVE ADVISORY BOARD MEETING29-30 September 2005, Bratislava, Slovakia
Coordination of forest land use related policies
• FLU policy framework seems to be split up in various policy sectors according to multi-functionality of forests
• lack of coordination between different policies addressing FLU in Europe may lead to contradictions and conflicts between the respective policy instruments and hinder an adequate comprehensive respond of policies to societal demands
• National, Regional & Global level are affected
• Possible options
– Better Communication & Participatory Approaches
– NFPs
– Bundling of policies through legally binding instruments (National: one Ministry, regional: Convention on FLU)
ENVIRONMENT AND SECURITY INITIATIVE ADVISORY BOARD MEETING29-30 September 2005, Bratislava, Slovakia
Assistance provided by SEUR
• to monitor changes of societal needs and market demands from forest land use and integrate them in strategic policy and management decision making
• to further intensify coordination of forest land use related policy instruments and institutions, e.g. by applying nfp’s and other coordination means
• to support private forestry and emphasize diversification of forest goods, products and services
• to foster law enforcement and governance in order to respond adequately to societal needs and market demands
• to promote regional integration of CEI countries to the European policy dialogue on forest land use
ENVIRONMENT AND SECURITY INITIATIVE ADVISORY BOARD MEETING29-30 September 2005, Bratislava, Slovakia
Project: Innovation Policies in the Forest Sector of Eastern Europe
• Objective– Policy measures directed towards more intensive
application of environmentally oriented innovations
• Expected outcomes– Increased performance of institutions dealing with policies
directed towards environmental friendly forest land use products and services
– Improved incomes and employment as well as social and environmental benefits from forest land use
– Support to sustainable development processes in Europe
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