State of forestry in Europe

Recommendation 579 (1970)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 23 January 1970 (17th Sitting) (see Doc. 2690, report of the Committee on Agriculture). Text adopted by the Assembly on 23 January 1970 (17th Sitting).

The Assembly,

1. Noting that forestry enterprises in Europe are faced with serious difficulties because timber prices are not keeping pace with the constant increase in wages, which account for 50% to 70% of production costs ;

2. Noting that these difficulties are aggravated by the fact that the forest's economic and productive functions are bound to take increasingly into account the new social function which it is called upon to fulfil in the 20th century ;

3. Considering that in fulfilling this new function the forest is providing what amounts to a public service which should be properly appreciated and paid for ;

4. Considering that any modern forestry policy in Europe needs to be included within overall agricultural and regional planning policies which take account of the needs of the society of tomorrow ;

5. Noting that the costs which a forest owner has to bear have risen to such a pitch that it is necessary to grant aid by the state in certain regions for the avoidance of soil erosion with all its repercussions on climate and water resources and on all the biological riches which are so vital to the microand macro-organisms composing the natural environment of living creatures,

6. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers :

6.1 invite member governments :

a to promote, by providing adequate financial assistance, fundamental forestry research from the technical, economic and social standpoints, while developing the teaching and popularisation of forestry ;

b to take legislative and administrative steps to encourage the foundation of owners or forest management associations, intended particularly to promote the mechanisation of forestry operations ;

c to examine the possibility of regulating pasture rights, also in mountain regions, in order to reconcile pastoral and forestry interests ;

d to adjust the land-tax on forest land in member countries where it is still too high in relation to income and disproportionate to profitability ;

e to subsidise, if need be, through tax exemptions, forest improvement or planning measures ;

f to subsidise reafforestation of areas no longer cultivated for periods of twenty to thirty years and exempt them from all taxation ;

g to review building regulations and arrangements for the insurance of buildings against fire, in order to secure a market for the timber production ;

h to seek legislative ways and means of preventing too much breaking up of private forest lands ;

6.2 to invite the Council of Ministers of OECD to have a detailed study made of the extent to which European forestry is competitive ;

6.3 to instruct the appropriate Council of Europe committees of experts such as the European Committee for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, to ensure that conditions conducive to forestry planning are provided in the member states.