Government Report on Forest Policy 2050

Abstract

Strong strategic outlines are needed to develop the sustainable management of forests in order to allow even more diverse utilisation of Finland’s forest resources to enhance the welfare of the Finns. As set out in the Government Programme, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has conducted a participatory process to prepare this Forest Policy Report, which outlines a long-term vision and strategic objectives for the management of forests and the main measures to be taken. Clear and prioritised outlines are needed because the forest-based business and activities in Finland are undergoing the greatest transitions for over a hundred years. As regards forest work the greatest transition took place in the 1960s–1980s, but now changes on the world market, diverse uses of forests and the pressures for changes these give rise to imply significant changes all through the value chain. Forest-based business and activities, utilisation of forests and the welfare derived from these are going to be increasingly diverse, which offers great opportunities for the sector. In this report the forest-based business and activities are understood very broadly: besides forestry and forest industry they also comprise the production, processing and services relating to the other tangible and intangible products of forests and public goods. The vision of the Forest Policy Report, Sustainable forest management is a source of growing welfare, stresses the diverse welfare derived from forests and the fact that the utilisation of forests offers solutions to the needs of the people and society. In order to make the vision come true and to be able to increase the welfare obtained from forests we have to succeed in various sets of issues to develop the forestbased business and activities. The Forest Policy Report presents three strategic objectives, founded on the vision: 1) Finland is a competitive operating environment for forest-based business. 2) Forest-based business and activities and their structures are renewed and diversified. 3) Forests are in active, sustainable and diverse use. Success in the measures with the most significant impacts is a precondition for the growth in the welfare produced by forest-based business and activities. The report presents thirteen sets of measures to achieve the strategic objectives and, through this, growing welfare. The most important ones are: – We create the conditions for renewal of enterprises in the field and development of new and growing enterprises through business policy and legislation. – We create the conditions for business-like and active forestry, for example, by developing taxation and improving the structure of holdings and forest ownership. – We secure the supply of raw materials in line with the demand and improve the functioning of the markets. – We target R&D activities by means of public fun ding to support the renewal of forest-based business and activities and transition to bioeconomy. – We secure the biodiversity of forest nature, ecosystem services and ecological and social sustainability of forests. 6