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Wood industry’s appeal to Prime Minister Donald Tusk

Yesterday, March 21, wood industry organizations sent a letter to the prime minister, pointing out the mistakes of the new government and calling for urgent action.

Poland’s wood sector has been experiencing a market slump and a decline in sales for several years. Recently, the situation has even become dramatic. In early January this year, the Ministry of Climate and Environment decided to temporarily place 10 forest areas under strict protection. What’s more, the ministry is working on a systemic solution that will include more areas subject to halting or limiting timber harvesting. Unfortunately, this decision has not been consulted in any way with either the social or economic side, and not even nature and forestry scientists have been consulted on these measures.

The wood industry is of course aware of the need to increase the area of protected areas in Poland. However, such measures should always be worked out with the participation of all stakeholders, and this means that while protecting nature, the economic side should also be taken care of.

Poland’s wood industry is losing competitiveness, cutting sales and reducing hiring due to very high wood prices in Poland. The State Forests, despite clear requests from the industry resulting from the deep economic crisis, are not responding in any way to these appeals.

The wood industry is pointing to the lack of proactive action by the Government and appropriate regulations to stimulate the development of the wood industry. The recently announced “Aid Package for the Wood Industry” on March 15 this year, unfortunately, did not bring the expected responses to the industry’s call for the immediate assistance that wood industry companies so desperately need now. As a result, the wood industry is urgently calling on Prime Minister Donald Tusk to take immediate action on this issue.

The entire appeal can be downloaded below.

_{Photo: www.gov.pl}