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

ENVIRONMENT AND SECURITY INITIATIVE ADVISORY BOARD MEETING29-30 September 2005, Bratislava, Slovakia

www.fao.org\regional\seur\forestry