Forest policy goals in Poland in light of the current forestry aims in Europe Part 5. Towards a new forestry development strategy in Poland

The aim of this paper was to review and evaluate drafts of forest policy documents that have been developed for the purpose of updating the Polish “National Forest Policy” of 1997, but never entered into force. A total of 14 documents were covered in this analysis including 13 Regional Operational Programmes of the National Forest Policy and the draft of the National Forest Programme (NFP) developed in 2000–2005, as well as nearly 300 recommendations for the “second” NFP, elaborated in 2012–2016. Very soon after the “National Forest Policy” came into force, it turned out that it needed to be adjusted to changing legal, social and economic conditions. The first attempts to revise and amend the document were made already in 2000. As a result, until 2004, 17 Regional Operational Programmes of the National Forestry Policy were developed and, on that basis, until mid-2005 a draft for a new NFP was worked out. However, the draft was neither adopted nor did it ever enter into force. The second attempt to work out the NFP was made in 2012 and resulted in the development of nearly 300 recommendations to the programme. However, to date, the NFP itself has not been finished. Most of the documents examined here refer to the current priorities of the European forest policy, and thus they would close gaps in the Polish “National Forest Policy”. In this context, the recommendations to the “second” NFP are of great importance, because they were prepared through a wide participation of various stakeholders and they refer to a wide range of problems, propose specific legal regulations, as well as indicate directions for further development of the Polish forest sector. However, the completion of the NFP is a matter of political decision that rests with the Council of Ministers.

Forest policy goals in Poland in light of the current forestry aims in Europe Part 3. European priorities for the forest policy in Polish programmes and strategies

The aim of the paper is to review and evaluate Polish programmes and strategies centred on and related to forest, as well as national and transregional development strategies and priorities formulated at the european level. this work covers the ‘National Forest Policy’ and 28 other strategies, policies and programmes representing various forest-related policy areas, including environmental protection, agriculture and rural development, climate and energy as well as development strategies from 1997 to 2017. The study shows that many of the priorities of the European forest policy have not been reflected in the ‘National Forest Policy’. These include, among others, adapting forests to climate change and enhancing their mitigation potential, enhancing the economic contribution of forestry to rural development, enhancing the role of the SFM in a green economy, securing the participation of all stakeholders in forest-related decision-making processes, improving communication in forestry and developing cross-sectoral cooperation. However, many of these forest-related issues have already been included in numerous strategic documents of other policy areas. As a result, many European forest policy priorities are scattered across Polish policy documents of different forest-related sectors and it raises justified concerns that inconsistencies and contradictions exist between them. Another matter of significant concern is that the issue of forests and forestry is barely mentioned in any of the examined development strategies. This may also indicate that the forest sector is getting more and more marginalized in the socioeconomic and political sector, as forest policy goals are defined and achieved within other policy areas and are practically absent in national and transregional development strategies.

Forest policy goals in Poland in light of the current forestry aims in Europe Part 1. Forest policy processes in Europe

The Polish “National Forest Policy” was adopted by the Council of Ministers in April 1997 and since then no revisions of this document have been made. However, over the last two decades policy changes affecting forests and forestry have been implemented worldwide including Europe. Nonetheless, in more recent years, significant changes in social, economic, institutional, and legal aspects of forestry have also occurred in Poland. This paper is the first of a series of five articles, which aim at highlighting necessary changes in the “National Forest Policy” following the achievements of European forest policy processes and trends in forest policy of selected European countries. The focus of the present paper are the most important European processes of forest policy formulation, in particular the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (Forest Europe process) as well as forest-focused and forest-related polices of the European Union. Included in this research are the Forest Europe resolutions as well as decisions and EU policies, strategies and legal acts in terms of the general objectives set for forests and forestry. The analysis focuses on the period 1997–2016, i.e. starting from the year the “National Forest Policy” has been adopted. The conclusions of this first paper are that in recent years, forests and forestry have been increasingly included in various sectoral policies of the European Union (environmental and biodiversity protection, climate, energy, agricultural polices), which requires the member states to revise and adjust their own forest-related regulations and policies.

A qualitative and quantitative analysis of Turkish forest policy documents in the rural development scope

ABSTRACT: The interaction between forest resources and forest villagers has made rural development a privileged component of Turkish forest policy. In this context the main aim of the study was to investigate the framing of rural development issues in national forest policy by using content analysis method. The economic aspect is the most prominent dimension regarding rural development in the context of national forest policy, environmental and socio-cultural factors follow it respectively. Also, the main approach depends on supporting the forest villagers and its development is seen as an essential tool to protect the forest resources.

Namibia’s National Forest Policy on Rural Development – A Case Study of Uukolonkadhi Community Forest

Forest resources still play a major role in sustaining livelihoods in rural communities, most especially in developing countries. Namibia’s community forests have much potential to combat rural poverty and contribute to rural development. Keeping the balance between the two chief objectives of the national forest policy; conservation and socio-economic development is of vital importance in combating both deforestation and rural poverty. Thus, this study primarily aimed to investigate the influence of Namibia’s national forest policy on forest resources contribution in rural development from 2009-2013. Forestry and environmental experts and local residents were interviewed. The results show that the lack of full governmental involvement in the management of community forests resources, low, erratic and irregular rainfall are the main challenges community forestry economy is facing. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis indicates that good institutional arrangement of community forestry and active community participatory are some of the pillar strengths of the community forestry programme. The study concludes that there are several research gaps such as statistical information of forest conditions and the degree of poverty within rural communities. Motivating and supporting rural community forests management in any possible manners to give a ground to alleviate rural poverty and combat deforestation is the essential next step.