In mountainous Austria, forests are among the most valuable natural assets. They are forests that provide protection against various natural hazards, such as avalanches, mudslides, and rockfalls.
“These must be actively maintained and kept ‘functional’ (performing the aforementioned ‘duties’),” explains the Austrian Forest Association. “Our forest management and wood utilisation require supporting measures, not restrictive European Union regulations,” asserts the Chairman of the Austrian Forest Association, Rudolf Rosenstatter (Rudolf Rosenstatter), condemning the EU forest policy, which he considers misguided.
The Austrian Forest Association compares the trade balances of wood and fossil fuels. While wood can generate profit, the foreign trade balances for coal, oil, and gas are negative. Climate-friendly forest management, suited to the future needs of our grandchildren*, provides jobs and income for approximately 300,000 people. With a surplus of around 5 billion euros, the wood value-added system will once again be one of the most important assets of the Austrian economy. Forests and wood have huge potential in the fight against climate change, for example by storing carbon in wood products and replacing fossil raw materials.
Forests and wood are an important part of heat energy and energy independence from fossil energy imports from countries involved in warfare. The European Union, which should actually be promoting European energy independence and the energy transition, is restricting forest management and wood use with its EU Renewable Energy Directive.
“The European Union is pushing us even further into dependence on and the whims of warring, despotic states. With every cubic metre of wood that the EU does not allow us to use, and with every dearly paid barrel of oil or cubic metre of gas, huge sums of money and the purchasing power of the population irrevocably flow away to countries that cause wars and violate international and human rights. By acting in this way, the EU is allowing our mountains of debt for fossil energy imports to grow rapidly,” points out Rudolf Rosenstatter, expressing great indignation at the restrictive European Union requirements.
An abandoned forest provides neither protection for nature nor for people
In reality, it seems that in Brussels, they still do not understand the positive impact that the management of forests planted for grandchildren* and the climate-neutral use of wood can have on the environment. “The current EU forest policy shows that the great importance of climate-friendly forests, their preservation, and the use of wood as an essential component in the fight against climate change are not recognised at the Brussels negotiating table. I can only explain it this way, because ‘leaving the forest to its own devices’, which is what the European Union is striving for, is an absolutely fatal sign for the future,” believes R. Rosenstatter.
Lack of maintenance means negligence, and an abandoned forest, especially in the mountains, will not be able to protect the population in the long term. “When will the people working in Brussels finally recognise the positive and key role of forests and wood in climate and human protection, as well as the fact that wood is an indispensable component of the energy transition?” asks the Chairman of the Austrian Forest Association, Rudolf Rosenstatter, harshly.
* A forest is not planted for oneself, but for future generations