page 1 / October 5, 2015 Sustainable Forest Management in Austria Vienna, October 5, 2015

page 2 / October 5, 2015 Content Forests and forestry in Austria  State of Austrian forests (short overview)  SFM in Austria  Legal and institutional framework SUMMARY: What is needed for SFM

page 3 / October 5, 2015 Austrian Forests – Forest Area FOREST COVER IN PERCENT hectare ha available for wood supply 84%

page 4 / October 5, 2015 Austrian Forests – Growing Stock 337 m³/ha 241 m³/ha Million m³ over bark

page 5 / October 5, 2015 Austrian Forests – Tree species Spruce ~ 50 %

page 6 / October 5, 2015 Austrian Forests – Ownership Structure in % of total forest area 81 % PRIVATE 19 % PUBLIC

page 7 / October 5, 2015 SFM in Austria – Multifunctionality Recreation Production Protection Environment … the basic principle: All forests should cover all functions.

page 8 / October 5, 2015 Protective Functions Austria is an alpine country. Stable forest are essential to protect life and infrastructure against soil erosion, floods, avalanches, land slides etc.

page 9 / October 5, 2015 Environmental Functions (e.g. Biodiversity) In Austria about hectare forests are part of protected areas according to different categories of nature protection laws. EU Programme Natura % of the Austrian Natura areas are forests.

page 10 / October 5, 2015 Environmental Functions (e.g. Climate change mitigation) Austria pursues a strategy of maximising the positive effect of forest by SFM and using timber. Sustainable forest management ensures high level growing stocks Using wood = replacement of CO2-intensive materials such as cement, steel or oil CO2-storage in forest products

page 11 / October 5, 2015 Recreational Functions Tourism is one of the most important economic sectors in Austria. Forests provide scenic beauty and important services.

page 12 / October 5, 2015 Productive Functions Timber is the most important forest product. Its sustainable production has a long tradition.

page 13 / October 5, 2015 Productive Function – Increment and Felling Annual increment (mio. m³ over bark) 27,3 31,330,4 Annual felling (mio. m³ over bark) 19,5 18,825,9 Utilisation rate 71 %60 % 85 % Source: BFW, National Forest Inventory

page 14 / October 5, 2015 Productive Function – Removals Source: Holzeinschlagsmeldung, BMLFUW 10 y-Ø 18,4 storm Kyrill storms Emma & Paula

page 15 / October 5, 2015 Legal Framework (1) Austrian Forest Law In the past:  A number of forest regulations  First comprehensive forest law in 1852: established tenure rights, introduced obligation to manage forest sustainable Currently:  Austrian Forest Act of 1975 (amended several times)  Applies to both private and public forests  Principles: Sustainability and multifunctionality  Defines SFM in accordance with FE provisions as an approach for securing the long-term economic, environmental and social dimensions of forest comprehensively and in a balanced manner.

page 16 / October 5, 2015 Legal Framework (2) Austrian Forest Act (1975) Specific and quite detailed management regulations:  Prohibition of clearing, obligatory reforestation  Size of clear cuts limited (max. size 2 or 3 ha)  Cutting permission for clear cuts ≥0.5 ha  Prohibition of final cutting of immature forests <60 years  Protection forests: further restrictions and obligations for additional measures (investments) to ensure all the time stable stands  Forest holdings >1000 ha have to employ certified forest professionals In general: moderate level of administrative burden, no excessive paperwork (e.g. no cutting permission for ”normal” logging up to 0.5 ha required)

page 17 / October 5, 2015 Legal Framework (3) Austrian Forest Act (1975) Tasks of the Authorities:  Forest supervision  Reporting  Advise forest owners  Forestry subsidisation  Annual assessment of timber harvest  Forest-related education (forest pedagogics) Sanctions:  Seems to be strict enough. Violations are actually no problem in Austria. Only very few cases of illegal logging are reported in the annual statistics.

page 18 / October 5, 2015 Legal Framework (4) Taxes (income and other taxes)  Based mainly on soil productivity  Flat rate system for small holdings: Income tax is based only on soil productivity, not on actual logging.  Most of the forest owners are not obliged to keep books.  Forest holdings with turnover > Euro or basic value > Euro: mandatory accounting Subsidies  based mainly on rural development policy (EU programme)  allocation by forest authorities and chambers of agriculture  at the time about € 25 Mio/y (without forestry measures in protection forests)

page 19 / October 5, 2015 Institutional Framework Forest Authority at provincial level (9) Local Headquarters (~200) + ~ 300 rangers in Tirol and Vorarlberg Technical Forestry High School Bruck/Mur Technical Forestry School Waidhofen/Ybbs mandatory voluntary Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry Chambers of Agriculture at provincial level (9), Forestry department Chambers of Agriculture at district level Austrian Federation of Forest Owners‘ Forest Owners’ Associations at provincial level Provincial Departments (7) Regional Headquarters (21) Erosion, Torrents and Avalanche Control Service Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management Department IV Forestry Austrian Federal Office and Research Centre for Forests (BFW) Forest Training Centers (FAST) Ort and Ossiach Forest Authority at district level (74) University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) FORESTOWNERSFORESTOWNERS Austrian Forest Owner Cooperative (Österreichischer Waldverband) 8 provincial associations 257 local forest owner cooperatives forest owners ( ha) R E P R E S E N T A T I O N O F I N T E R E S T S

page 20 / October 5, 2015 Sustainable Forest Management – What is needed 1)A solid and balanced legal framework 2)A functioning institutional framework 3)A good knowledge base 4)Forest owners’ individual motivation to SFM

page 21 / October 5, 2015 SFM – What is needed (1) A solid and balanced legal framework A clear and stable property law to ensure long-term land tenure  incl. inheritance law and inheritance taxes ensuring a smooth handover of forest holdings to the next generation without endangering economic viability Forest Act relevant to practice and understandable  without excessive administrative effort  without hampering entrepreneurship of forest owners Tax system without incentives for evasion of taxes  e.g. through income taxes based on soil productivity rather than on actual logging

page 22 / October 5, 2015 SFM – What is needed (2) A functioning institutional framework Effective (forest) authorities  Ensuring law enforcement  Providing extension service (advisory service) and granting subsidies facilitates getting in touch with forest owners Strong interest groups (chambers and voluntary interest groups)  Lobbying for practicable legislation & sufficient budgetary resources  Providing extension service for their members An efficient instrument for balancing the different interests on forests  National Forest Programme (Austrian Forest Dialogue)

page 23 / October 5, 2015 SFM – What is needed (3) A good knowledge base Education and further training  incl. knowledge about forestry relevant law Research  to be able to recognize changes and adapt adequately and early enough the (legal) framework  to improve efficiency and ensure economic viability Monitoring (e.g. National Forest Inventory) and reporting  to evaluate implementation of forest relevant law  in case of undesirable developments: to adapt the (legal) framework

page 24 / October 5, 2015 SFM – What is needed (4) Forest owners’ individual motivation to manage their forests in a sustainable way Possibility to get income from forestry (economic viability)!! Family property and a long SFM tradition  SFM is self-evident for forest owners in Austria.  In Austria forest owners try to hand over their forests to the next generation in the best possible condition. Confidence in stability of the legal and economic framework  long-term investments require stable/predictable conditions  in case of accession to an estate the inheritance tax should not endanger economic viability of a forest holding

page 25 / October 5, 2015 Johannes Prem Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management Division III/1 – Forest Policy and Forest Information 1030 Vienna, Marxergasse