The inaugural event, held on April 22-23 was dedicated to developing guidelines for the process of strengthening the protection of forests bearing special value for nature and society. The created template will be used to identify and select such important woodlands throughout Poland, as well as to permanently implement local concepts to strengthen the protection of identified areas.
"As a result of the dialogue between representatives of the State Forests and the representatives of the public, many agreements were reached" - said Mikołaj Dorożała, Deputy Minister of Climate and Environment, speaking for Polish Radio during a Tuesday press conference wrapping up the two-day event. Meanwhile, participants from non-governmental, ecological and citizen organizations indicated that although the initial stage of the process has been concluded, the whole debate cannot be treated as closed yet.
An especially important matter they pointed out is the need for a permanent exclusion of 20% of national forests from logging, including Poland's ecologically important old woodlands. Such a notion is supported by the majority of Polish society, the activists stated - adding that its promise was included in the coalition agreement joining the bloc currently ruling the country, Polish Radio's Information Agency IAR reported.
During Tuesday's conference, Deputy Minister Dorożała summarized the results of the first National Conference on Forests. He emphasized that he did not expect such good results of the debate, preparations for which took four months. The event was intended to create an understanding between foresters and the social side defending the ecological well-being of forests. According to the Deputy Minister, the social side also appreciated the opportunity for dialogue, which - in his opinion - had been missing for many years.
"In the spirit of a new opening, I will ask the State Forests agency to withdraw all lawsuits that have been filed against ecological and social organizations" - Dorożała said. He added that instead of meetings in courts, the focus should be on dialogue between the parties. The Deputy Minister also announced that a consensus has been found regarding new nature protection areas.
Under the eight years of previous conservative Law and Justice rule, Poland's state forests were reported by the activists to be badly maintained and subjected to excessive logging for private profit. Meanwhile, numerous pro-nature protests ended with arrests and following lawsuits.
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Source: IAR