Skógræktarritið - 15.05.2001, Síða 126

Table 1. Forest ownership on the West Coast of Norway
I ype of forest ownership Respondents % of area Average forest area
The commercially active 16 % 26 % 64,6 Ha
Forest active, sale 7 % 9 % 51,3 Ha
Forest active 23 % 23 % 43,1 Ha
Passive with potential 30 % 24 % 33,3 Ha
Passive without personal potential 12 % 8 % 26,3 Ha
No answer: 12 % 10 % 35,9 Ha
Total: (N = 9751 100 100 % 41.4 Ha
Table 2. Forest owners categories and main source of income (1996).
Agriculture is tt main income ie household's: secondary income Nlo household income from agriculture Sum forest owners (N)
Commercial active 63 % 23 %■ 14% 100% 164
Forest active, sale 58 % 19% 22% 100% 72
Forest active 49% 26% 25 % 100% 224
Passive with potential 43% 30% 27 % 100% 327
Passive without potential 39% 23 % 38 % 100% 145
Total: 49% 26% 25 % 100% 932
Table 3. Forestry income in percentage of total household income in 1996
Over 20% 16 to 20% 11 to 15 % 6 to 10% 1 to 5 % None Number of respondents
Commercial active 10% 18 % 10% 24% 27% ii % 157 18%
Forest active, sale 3% 5 % 5 % 34% 40% 12% 73 8 %
Forest active 4% 2% 2% 13 % 36% 43 % 211 24%
Passive with potential 0% 1 % 1 % 9% 36% 53 % 315 35 %
Passive without potential 1 % 0% 0% 4% 18% 77 % 141 16%
Total 3 % 5 % 3 % 13% 32% 44% 897 o o
Absentee ownership is still low
in this region (less than 10 % of
total respondents), but judging
from owners’ age-structure and
the interviews we made, this per-
centage will rise significantly
when the present owners hand
over to the next generation. In
most cases where there had been
a recent hand-over to the next
generation, it was not to the old-
est child, which would have been
the traditional way of doing it,
but typically to the youngest.
When asked about the reason, it
turned out that the youngest was
often the one with the least good
reasons not to take over, he older
ones being well established with
occupations and residence out-
side the farm.
Some 92 % of the respondents
regarded their forests to be part
of a farm, and activity level in
forestry was closely connected to
activity level in agriculture (Table
2). The majority of forest owners
selling timber on the commercial
market were at the same time
active in agriculture, but still
only a few had forestry as a major
source of income. Dependency of
the households on forest income
is quite low (Table 3). Only 3 % of
the respondents earn more then
20 % of household income from
forestry, 7 % between 11 and 20
% and 12 % between 6 and 10 %.
78 % earns less than 5 % of
household income from forestry.
Of all the respondents, 48 %
stated agriculture (including
forestry) as the main source of
household income, 20 % the
manufacturing industries, 22 %
services and 10 % had their main
income from other sources (pen-
sions etc).
The general trend in society is
that jobs are decreasing in pri-
mary and secondary industries,
and increasing in the tertiary sec-
tor; the service-sector. So in
many ways, forestry is being mar-
ginalised in a marginalised sec-
tor.
Challenges from modern
society
In formertimes, rural societies in
many ways could be described as
more or less independent from
the larger society. |obs were
locally based, migrational pat-
terns generally were short-dis-
tanced and social life was cen-
tred upon the place where one
lived. If industries had markets
on the outside, these generally
were considered stable and last-
ing. Today, rural areas in most
respects are fully integrated into
society at large. |obs are no
longer only found locally and
internationalisation and the
development of free market
economy have resulted in a
much more flexible commercial
structure that operates according
to the same economic reasoning
wherever you are located.
Regarding forestry this can be
said to have resulted in a seg-
mentation where we can identify
and describe four major trends:
The pulp and paper sector has
become global. What formerly
were nationally based companies
are today major actors on the
global market. For example, the
Norwegian based „Norske Skog"
was originally founded by forest
owners, who still are major
shareholders. With recent buy of
NZ based Fletcher Challenge, it
was argued that Norwegian for-
est owners ought to sell their
shares and use profit to invest in
local industries. „as Norske Skog
no longer holds any importance
for the local development"
Sawnwood production has
become regional. Larger units,
concentration on national and
regional levels. This is also
reflected in the restructuring of
Forest Owners Associations into
larger units. An adaptation to a
more market-based system,
reducing the linkages to local
and rural societies.
124
SKÓGRÆKTARRITIÐ 2001 l.tbl