Protection against falling rocks and mudslides, places of relaxation and recreation, but also important suppliers of raw materials and economic factor – Upper Austria’s forests take on numerous functions, not only in rural areas.
At the request of the European Union, ten percent of the country’s forest area should no longer be managed in order to achieve the climate targets by 2030. However, this requirement is sharply criticized by the timber industry: “Nature should go its own way. But if we no longer manage the forests, then there will be no protective forest. Even the forest as a recreational area cannot exist without human intervention,” says Rudolf Freidhager, Board of Directors of the Austrian Federal Forests (ÖBf).
Freidhager considers only the strict nature conservation regulations on the forest areas to be sensible: “Forests are important allies in the fight against the climate crisis. They can only achieve all their benefits if we manage them in a way that is close to nature and leave them to nature’s course,” says Freidhager.
Economic factor forest
Franz Waldenberger, President of the Upper Austrian Chamber of Agriculture, sees the set-asides as counterproductive for the economic factor of the forests: “Reducing logging by ten percent would result in the loss of more than 15,400 jobs in the forestry and timber industries. Jobs in the supplier companies would also be at risk.” , says Waldenberger.
If you also do without domestic wood, you would have to import it from abroad. “Because the wood is an important resource for the paper industry and the construction sector. Importing it would in turn have a negative impact on climate protection,” says Waldenberger.
Especially at this point in time, it is important to manage the local forests as before. The demand for wood is great because there is a strong trend in building with wood and also in the furnishing business. “For many products, we are below the price peaks of summer 2021. The market situation has stabilized by focusing on the home market,” says Andreas Ludwig from the industry association.
Source: Nachrichten
