Forest Policy

We start with a basic question. What exactly does “forest policy” mean, not only within the context of this site, but also from a wider perspective, whether at the national, regional, or international level? Naturally, you may think that forest policy is only about forests (or trees) or perhaps wood-based products, however, it is not always easy to delimit what we exactly mean when we refer to forest policy. This requires context. For instance, from a forestry perspective, forest policy could simply consist of the laws and regulations that guide the protection and management of forests. However, from a forest-based industry perspective, forest policy could encompass laws and regulations that relate to employment, financing and investment, payments for environmental goods and services and international markets.

Even more, if we think about forest policy from a vertical perspective (local to international), rather than from a sectoral (or horizontal) perspective, then each level would have its own legal and institutional competences with regards to forests. Forest policy in Europe is consequently very diverse. For example, for the European Union (EU), forests per se remain outside the realm of the EUs (exclusive and shared) competences. This means the EU can only implement non-legally binding (or soft) policy instruments. The same usually applies to global or pan-European agreements on forests, such as the United Nations Non-legally Binding Instrument on All Types of Forests (or the “Forest Instrument”).

Forest policy ultimately depends entirely on the perspective we take. Forest policy, in my perspective, is for this reason seen as a much wider domain than what is commonly applied on the national level (where competences and roles are often strictly applied) and it relates to any policy instrument that could be seen as affecting forests (directly or indirectly). This could concern regulations covering the use of chemical substances or legal frameworks for treating and managing waste, which are important for forest-based industries, or forest-focused regulations addressing biodiversity conservation or renewable energy production. Forest policy (and governance) comprise a wide spectrum of instruments, actors and interests interacting and competing for the same natural resource.

This is also why forest policy is so interesting, it is complex and varied, covering multiple policy domains, yet it is fundamentally about trees and all that we can use trees towards, whether to build houses, produce energy, make paper, plastics, and textiles or for recreation, or simply, for their natural beauty.