At the Fourth Ministerial Conference on Forest Protection, the ministers signed a declaration "European Forests - Common Benefit, Shared Responsibility" together with five resolutions. The signed documents focus on the key issues of forestry development. They emphasize the need for preserving the biological diversity of forests and the importance of cooperation within Europe. According to Mr. Villu Reiljan, Minister of the Environment and Estonia’s representative at the Conference, all modern measures and techniques used with the aim of achieveing sustainable forestry in Europe are also being implemented in Estonia. "Statistical forest inventories have been initiated in roughly a half of the European countries, Estonia being among those. We also have developed our protected forest areas network - 7% of the forest area has been taken into strict protection. According to the National Forestry Development Plan, the share of strictly protected forests is expected to increase to 10% by the end of the decade," said Mr. Reiljan. The state needs to obtain a more clear picture of forest logging activities, still. For improving enforcement and assessment of the volume of logging and cutting activities, a sustainable forestry monitoring system is being developed on the basis of the forest register. According to Mr. Reiljan, the need for balanced forestry development - with equal consideration of the ecological, social, cultural, and economic aspects - was repeatedly emphasized at the Conference. "In Estonia, some sectors tend to overestimate the importance of their role, however, there can no longer be free interpretation of this matter," said Mr. Reiljan. The declaration, resolutions and their annexes include the main principles and declarative obligations for improvement of forestry policy, also giving clear examples concerning the need for taking appropriate measures. Although those documents are not legally binding for the states, they include development trends and recommendations to be followed by the signatory countries. The Forest Protection Conferences of European Ministers is a cooperation process involving some 40 European countries as well as the European Union, with the aim of securing sustainable forestry development. The objective of the Conference is to give strong indication at a high political level of the importance and role of forests in Europe, as well as of their protection and sustainable management. For additional information please contact: |
