Session 5: Development in Economy of Forest Management
The economic viability of forest management (EVFM) has been mentioned in strategic forest policy documents since 2003. For example, the EVFM was considered as a key pillar of the sustainable forest management and of crucial importance in maintaining forests and their multi-faceted benefits for the society. However, the EVFM basically depends on the wood producing function of forest management (FM) and is thus generated “at the expense” of forest owners and wood processors in the forestry and wood-processing sector. Random logging including disasters caused by insects has always had certain economic projections in forest management (see the stochastic nature of FM, for example); considering its today’s extent and dynamics, it often exceeds the capacity of the current and, above all, the future capital resources, those of forest owners in particular. Still this may be just the beginning of the story of a potential historic “turning point” in the forestry and wood processing sector as an industry, including its forest policy and national economic aspects.