Skógræktarritið - 15.05.2001, Page 125

SKÓGRÆKT HANDAN SKÓGARMARKA / NSSE
JOHAN BARSTAD
Forestry and the Challenges
of Modern Society
SAMANTEKT
Ýmsar ógnir steðja að skógrækt sem atvinnugrein í dreifbýli í þróuðum
löndum. Skógrækt og skógarnytjar eru ekki lengur einangraðar frá
samfélaginu í heild og það eru skógareigendur ekki heidur. Samfara
fólksfækkun í dreifbýli hafa skógrækt og úrvinnsluiðnaður sem byggist
á skógarafurðum orðið minna staðbundin. Fyrirtæki hafa stækkað og
staðbundnum störfum við skógarnytjar hefur fækkað á meðan störfum
við þjónustu og stjórnsýslu hefur fjölgað. Ýmislegt hefur orðið til þess
að skógareigendur eiga erfiðara en áður með að vinna í skógi, þ.á m.
minnkandi vægi tekna af skógarnytjum í heimilistekjum, vinna beggja
hjóna utan heimilis og aðrar kröfur á tíma fólks. Meðalskógareigandinn
í Vestur-Noregi á skóg sem er innan við 30 ha að flatarmáli. Hann er
karlmaður kominn yfir fimmtugt og kvæntur konu sem vinnur utan
heimilis. Börnin eru flutt á mölina og með atvinnu þar. Skógarnytjar
skapa lítinn hluta af heimilistekjum, á eftir vinnu utan heimilis og
landbúnaðartekjum. Engu að síður líta margir á tekjur af skógi sem
mikilvægar. Einnig segja skógareigendur að vinna í skógi sé mjög
skemmtileg og gefandi, að hún líkist frekar fríi en vinnu.
Introduction
Forestry as a rural activity is fac-
ing many challenges. Besides tra-
ditional forestry related issues,
such as species selection, forest
growth, siviculture, timberprices
and markets, there have for some
time also been the issues raised
by environmentalist NGO's, like
WWF, and Greenpeace. Tradi-
tionally, forestry existed within
its own segment, having little or
no interference from or influence
on other industries or general
policy, and was not a focal point
for people outside the forestry
sector. Forestry today has
become a more obvious part of
society at large in a way it was
not before, forestry no longer
exists in isolation.
All over the globe, we can
observe a decline in rural popu-
Iation, migration to the cities
and a an embracing of the urban
way of life. At the same time,
forestry is loosing its status as a
locally based industry with fewer
jobs in logging and siviculture, a
more professional organisation
with out-of-town based crews,
and an increase in absentee own-
ership. At the same time the
major forest companies are get-
ting larger and more internation-
al than before.
In this paper, I will discuss
some of the aspects of modern
day life as it can be seen in urban
areas, in rural areas and in the
interface between them in most
developed countries around the
Globe. My focal point will be
through our work on a study of
western Norwegian forest own-
ers, and the upstream production
in a small region around the
town of Álesund in Norway.
To quote some numbers
Western Norway has more than
30.000 forest owners (only count-
ing the ones with more than 25
ha total forest area). The average
size of forest holdings is 41 ha,
which is reduced to 29,5 ha if
only the productive forest area is
counted.
In our study of the western
Norwegian forest owner, we con-
structed a forest-owner categori-
sation, dividing them into five
categories, according to their
expressed interest for forestry
and their activity level (Amdam
et. al. 2000). (This study also
included some owners with less
than 25 ha forest area). Activity
level correlates with size of forest
area, the owners of smaller forest
areas typically being less active
(Table 1).
SKÓGRÆKTARRITIÐ 2001 l.tbl.
123