Forest Sector and the Northern Dimension

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Forest Sector and the Northern Dimension

• The Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of
  the Barents Euro-Arctic Council
  Oulu, Finland March
  14-15

University of Joensuu
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• The Foreign Ministers Conference on the Northern
  Dimension, organised by the European Commission
  and the Finnish Presidency of the European Union,
  in Helsinki, Finland on 11-12 November 1999.
• The Action Plan for the Northern Dimension
  2000-2003.

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Forest area in Europe
Source UN 1992, Kuusela 1994
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Forest land in Finland, Sweden, Norway and
Northwestern Russia
Million ha

Sources Finnish statistical yearbook of
forestry, Saastamoinen, O. 1999, Pohjoisen
metsätalous ja metsäteollisuus, In Pohjoinen
ulottuvuus - yhteistyötä yli rajojen. Interreg
II Karelia -Programme
5
Forest area in the northern regions of Russia
Group 1 Protective forests Group 2 Forests
in limited use Group 3 Industrial forests
Source Saastamoinen, O. 1999, Pohjoisen
metsätalous ja metsäteollisuus, In Pohjoinen
ulottuvuus - yhteistyötä yli rajojen. Interreg
II Karelia -Programme
6
Forests in the northern parts of Sweden
- 29 of total forest land area - 17 of the
total growth 32 m3/inhabitant (7 m3 in the
south) - 14 of the total cuttings - 13 ha forest
land / inhabitant 1-2 ha/inhabitant in south -
important in sub-national policies - 73 of
protected area in Sweden is located in the north
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Forest area in the northern regions of Russia
- total forest area 54,2 million ha - 31 of the
total forest area in the European and Urals parts
of Russia - 32 of forests protective (group 1) -
9 of forests in limited use (group 2) - 60 of
forests in industrial use (group 3)
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Forests and forestry in the northern regions of
Russia
- An extremely low level of forest utilisation -
An increasing number of unprofitable
enterprises - A decrease in the national
consumption of timber products - A
constantly deteriorating social infrastructure in
forest communities - A decreased number of newly
constructed timber harvesting enterprises
Burdin Problems in restructuring and
developing the forest sector of Northwest Russia,
2000
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Forest land in the North
Source Saastamoinen, O., 1999, Pohjoisen
metsätalous ja metsäteollisuus, In Pohjoinen
ulottuvuus - yhteistyötä yli rajojen. Interreg II
Karelia -Programme
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Forest land in the European North
- total 61,9 million ha - 17 of the total forest
area in Europe - Most northern forests in the
Arkhangelsk area (36) 38 of the land area
forested total forest area 29,6 million ha
23 million ha forest lands important forest
industry region
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Consumption of roundwood by Finnish forest
industries
Source Finnish statistical yearbook of forestry,
1999
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Wood raw-material consumption by Swedish forest
industries
Source www.forestindustries.se
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Timber removals and roundwood production in
Russia in 1980 - 1996
Source Burdin, Myllynen Strakhov Russian
Forest Industry Production, Trends and Prospects
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Sustainable Development of the Forest Sector in
the Northern Europe

• Barents Euro-Arctic Council/ Working Group on
  Economic Cooperation

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Barents Region Forest Sector Initiative

• At the sixth Foreign Minister Meeting of the
  Barents Euro-Arctic Council in Norway, 4-5,
  March, 1999 an initiative was made on the Barents
  Region Forest Sector
• the importance of forestry for the economy of the
  region
• forests - an immense natural resource
• conservation of northern forests

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• The Barents Region Forest Sector Initiative
  (BRFSI) was launched at the meeting of the
  Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) on 21 April,
  and the Working Group of Economic Cooperation
  (WGEC) on May, 1999.
• The project created a network of experts on
  forests and forestry which took part in preparing
  the seminar including the selection of the
  topics.

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• Altogether, 170 experts from Canada, Finland,
  Germany, Norway, Russia, Sweden, the European
  Commission convened at he
  seminar Sustainable Development of the Forest
  Sector in the Northern
  Europe Petrozavodsk, Russia on 12-13
  October 1999

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Key Conclusions of the Expert Seminar

• There is a challenge to integrate the national
  and international development work in the areas
  of forest management, environmental conservation
  and forest industries.
• The seminar expresses the wish, that the
  importance of further development of sustainable
  forest management would be appropriately
  reflected in the Action Plan for the Northern
  Dimension of the EU.

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Main Recommendations

• The Expert Seminar focused its recommendations on
  (i) sustainable forest management and
  biodiversity, (ii) human resource development
  and socio-economic sustainability in forest
  sector, (iii) industrial utilisation of forest
  resources, existing and new technologies and,
  (iiii) national forestry programmes.

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The tasks of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council
Forest Sector Task Force

• Networks
• Network for assessing logistic chain and trade of
  timber and other woody products
• Network concerning utilising of forest resources
  and wood-based energy
• Network for co-operation and collaboration
  between forest authorities
• Northern Dimension Forest Sector Programme