“I am convinced that the representatives of both these parties are actually standing for one and the same thing – Estonia’s forest,” she noted. According to the Minister of the Environment, adding value to timber helps to preserve jobs in Estonia and to create them, especially in rural areas. “The field of forestry currently employs approximately 31,000 people – this is the total number of people living in Põlva, Kuressaare and this year’s Forest Capital Haapsalu. This is an important sector,” Pentus emphasised. “We also need to give more attention and better information and counselling to 80,000 private forest owners. The condition of our forests largely depends on the skills, knowledge and activities of these people,” explained Minister of the Environment Keit Pentus. “We plan to nationally support the joint activity of private forest owners and development of a support system, in order to spread a better practice, to provide a place for counselling and help in organizing forestry works and the marketing of timber.” This time, the Forestry vision conference will concentrate on the future of the forestry sector, including the new Forestry Development Plan. The trends on the world timber market will be discussed, as well as how Estonia’s timber undertakings are able to compete on that market. The relation between forests and climate change is discussed, as well as several other topical subjects. At the end of the Conference, the 2011 Life’s Work award in Forestry will be awarded. Additional information on the Forestry vision conference is available here. |
