sou · GQB340d5 · 2003-01-01 00:00:00 — Native cover only of the land area, while planted cover only . The Forestry Commission (FC) owns of land in Scot- land and furthermore, nearly all public land in falls under the ownership of the FC. Conifer species is by far the most representative species group in . In , the FC has of its area planted with coniferous species while private land is . In comparison, the FC in has of its land in conifers, and private land has only planted in conifers. The British government first realised the need for a state ad- ministration during the First World War due to difficulties meeting wartime demands on . resources had been declining steadily since the Middle Ages, but had reached an all time low at the end of the Industrial Revolution. Because of the import restrictions during the First World War, realised the importance of devel- oping the resources. In 1919, the Forestry Commission was es- tablished as the state organisation responsible for co-ordinating a re- forestation plan to meet future demands. The cornerstone of policy in the 1920s was the need to re- build and maintain a strategic reserve. heavily relied on during the Second World War, which again resulted in a major priority for the FC to restore the . The 1950s, 1960s and 1970s saw dramatic surges in the output and income, and this found a ready market in industries. In the 1980s, there was a movement towards the privatisation of government assets. And as part of this movement, in 1981, the FC began a land disposal programme. A total of 170,000 hectares were sold, worth an estimated price of £250 million. By the 1990s the Commission was committed to multi-purpose forestry, and established many incentive programs for private land- owners to encourage best management practices. Until this decade, production was always considered the primary objective. In 1992, the was created to manage the in the FCs care. On 1st 1999, the FC became answerable to the Scottish Exec- utive for its activities in . Scottish Ministers give the FC for- mal directions, and the Scottish Parliament makes decisions about funding. 's first was launched by the Forestry Minister on . The Forestry Commission is the government department for forestry in . A Chairman and head the FC, which report to three Ministers - the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (), the Scottish Executive and the Na- tional Assembly for . Figure 7 shows how the FC fits together with the overall UK government. The of the Scottish Parliament (the first time in over 300 years) resulted in the devolution of the FC. now acts as the forestry department for the Scottish Executive. has two agencies: the and the Agency. Refer to Figure 8 and Figure 9 for organisational charts for both the FC and the . The manages the in the Commissions care. It has two Terri- torial Offices and 15 . The Territorial Offices are given maximum autonomy subject to the Chief Executives cor- porate strategy. They operate as business centres with performance targets agreed upon with the Chief Executive. clude setting targets, agreeing to their business plans, monitoring performance and providing estate management service. The are responsible for implementing the agreed plans. Specific functions include design and production plan- ning, management of operations, contract control and cus- tomer care. , as a governmental executive agency, is sub- ject to a five-year review to determine whether it is sensible to main- tain the current organisational structure or if another structure would be more effective. The first review will be completed in 2001-02. In addition to the two agencies, the FC has a business unit called , which provides accommodations for tourists. It also has , which handles specialised services, such as civil and mechanical . Forestry Commissions staff re- sources are given in Table 13. Forestry Commission's staff resources in Forestry Commission Natural Office for Civil and Mechanical , Nurseries and Total Forestry Commission staff in with overall Government – The Forestry Commission – Nature conservation on public estates falls under the responsi- bility of the FC. does not have a separate organisation to handle nature conservation, and more specifically, the FC does not have a separate department to handle such issues. Instead, nature conservation is integrated within the planning process at every level of government. The other government body responsible for nature conservation is the Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). SNH is a non-departmental public body that is answerable to the Minister of Rural Affairs, who represents the Scottish Parliament. Since SNH is a public body, the Secretary of State of appoints . SNH was established under the Natural Heritage () Act 1991, and serves as the main statutory agency and agent in for advising the government on conservation issues. Currently, there are no National Parks in . However, in 2000, the Scottish Parliament passed the National Park (Scot- land) Act 2000. This allows for the of National Parks and gives the ground rules for how they should be managed. The first National Park is expected to be in place by 2002. SNH has 38 offices and Table 14 shows SNHs staff resources. Scottish Natural Heritage's staff resources Operational, professional and managerial Estate workers, manual and domestic 4.3Evaluation of the organisational effectiveness 4.3.1 Management of the In general, the FCs objectives include balancing the financial, envi- ronmental and social functions for state . These ob- jectives are represented in the Corporate Plan, which is published every year to set specific actions and give details of the resources re- quired. Within this Corporate Plan, there are five main strategic di- rections: 6.maximise the value of the wood resource, 7.make a positive contribution to the environment, and 8.provide for people. The Corporate Plan reports the actions taken in that year to achieve these five strategic directions along with each actions progress. It is evident that the FC has been successful in meeting the general objec- tives in addition to actual actions taken to support its strategic direc- tions. However, there is evidence to support that nature conserva- tion is managed efficiently in . The problem is that the costs for these areas were not transparent, which is due partly to not having a separate organisation for nature conservation. Forestry Commissions estate in public estate amounts to 666,000 hectares, with of this classified as land (Table 15). Commercial constitute of the FCs forested areas, while the remaining is used for conservation purposes, including the 16,000 ha of protected given in Table 15. Harvesting is allowed in many of these con- servation areas, providing that the strict guidelines are adhered to. There is of the public estate retained for environmental objectives, which are predominantly areas of moorland and moun- tain located within the boundary. The remaining is used for agriculture and grazing. SOU 2002:40 Bilaga 2 State area managed by the Forestry Commission in (000 ha) F, G, A, etc. Conservation of moorland and Protected (IUCN categories) IV (Area) V (Protected Landscape) Total area owned by the Forestry A = Scientific research B = Wilderness protection C = Preservation of species and genetic diversity D = Maintenance of environmental services E = Protection of specific natural and cultural features F = Tourism and recreation H = Sustainable use of resources from natural ecosystems I = Maintenance of cultural and traditional attributes The Forestry Minister launched first on . The Strategy is the framework for taking forestry forward in , and focuses on five Strategic Directions, each supported by Priorities for Action. While the Strategic Directions will be used to provide long-term development, the Priorities for Action will be updated no later than every five years. The FCs Corporate Plan is the vehicle for 's Forestry Strategy on public land. The Corporate Plan explains FCs annual goals and targets based on the Strategy. It sets specific actions and de- tails the resources needed. This is reviewed annually through a formal Annual Report, which is presented to the Scottish Executive for re- view. As expressed earlier, the planning process on protected areas is in- tegrated with that of other areas. The main difference is that these areas are monitored every six years with corresponding reports. Ultimately, SNH is responsible for monitoring of Sites of Specific Scientific Interest (SSSIs) across the ownerships, but FC and SNH work together on the FCs estate. Protected area in comprises of the land area, of which this area is on private property. These areas include a variety of landscapes-woodlands, wetlands and sand dunes. Table 16 shows the nature conservation designations used in and the associated area, where data were available. Area (ha) Site of Specific Scientific Interest (SSSI) National Nature Reserves (NNR) National Scenic Areas (NSA) 1,001,800 Special Areas for Conservation (SAC)* Special Protection Areas (SPA) Local Nature Reserves (LNR) *Areas will be identified no later than . Brief descriptions of these areas are as follows: SSSI is the primary designation for nature conservation in , and are considered of ecological importance because of plant, wildlife and habitats, rocks and other landforms. NNR areas serve to maintain and preserve nature habitats of sig- nificant ecological value. NSAs protect lands considered of national significance on the ba- sis of their outstanding scenic value. Ramsar sites are areas designated under the Convention on Wet- land of International Importance. SACs are areas designated under Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and Wild Fauna and , commonly known as the Habitats and Spe- cies Directive. The Habitat and Species Directive (1992) states that these areas are to have the highest level of protection based on rec- ognition from the EC council to protect all forms of wildlife and No SCAs have yet been established, but has un- til 2004 to finalise a list. SPAs are used to safeguard the habitats of migratory and threat- ened bird species. LNRs can take many forms, including woodlands, wetlands, meadows or sand dunes. They are established to protect nature and to allow people to enjoy the outdoors. As mentioned earlier, there are currently no established national parks in Scot- land. Because SSSI:s are the primary designation used to handle protected areas, especially with respect to , special attention in this study has been given to the issues revolving around SSSIs. There are around 1,450 SSSIs in , which cover approximately 954,020 hectares (of the land area). Of these, around 430 () contain a woodland interest. Not all the area of a site designated for its woodland interest is un- der tree cover. In addition, some sites may be designated for more than one feature, and hence the proportion of a site under tree cover can be quite small. SNH is still in the process of recording the area of different habitats for all SSSIs, but preliminary estimates indicate that the area of tree cover on SSSIs is likely to be around 80,000 hectares (just of the total area of SSSIs). SSSIs can be attributed to IUCN categories IV and V on the basis of their dedicated protection of biological diversity (Table 15). 4.3.2Administration costs and revenues Table 17 reports the financial summary of the . and the report their financial accounts sepa- rately. This study has looked at the since they are re- sponsible for managing the state . In the 1999-2000 reporting period, the operated at a net cost to the govern- ment. Commercial harvesting accounted for of its self-gener- ated income. to the decline in the market, the FC has al- located £11 million to the for the maintenance of the estate, which includes the support of the recreational, environ- mental and heritage outputs. In 1999-2000, the UK Parliament and Scottish Parliament allocated £8.8 and £16.2 million, respectively, to the FC. Financial summary (1999) for () (million SEK) *Note: Exchange rate applied was 1 GBP = (average for 1999). 4.3.3Partnerships with special interest groups In general, has a high level of partnerships and community involvement. Community involvement in takes many shapes and forms with some communities only wanting to be con- sulted, others actively participating in management, and a few who want to share in the responsibility of ownership. Partnerships are cat- egorised in one of the following four types of strategic alliances: con- tributory, operational, consultative or collaborative (Table 18). Type of strategic alliance has a high level of countrywide, regional and local partner- ships. An excellent example of these partnerships is the Highland Birchwoods, which is funded by Scottish Natural Heritage, Highland Council, Highlands and and the FC. This partner- ship also takes advantage of funds from the EU. The partnership pro- vides a wide range of activities including an inventory on native Scot- tish woodlands, major conservation projects and development of small-scale wood-processing technologies. Another excellent example is the Central . Since 1995, the Central Countryside Trust (CSCT) has led the Initiative, with funding and support from the FC, the Scottish Executive and the SNH. In 1998, the was created by the FC to encourage farmers in Central to establish well-de- signed, productive for multi-purpose objectives. In a recent round of funding, the Fund contributed grants total- ling £1.5 million, which will result in better environmental improve- ment and recreation benefits. state are utilised heavily for non-commercial bene- fits. In fact, one of FCs objectives is to develop the recreational po- tential of the estate. And, most of these recreational areas, with the exception of campsites and chalets, do not charge visitors for their use. Thus, the FC must pay for the majority of these non-commercial benefits provided to the public. Research from the has shown that forestry has contributed £440 million to the Scottish economy, and £800 million when including the wood-processing industry. Fur- thermore, forestry and wood processing has directly provided more than 10,000 jobs to (only of the total employment), compared with 48,000 in agriculture, 7,500 in sea fishing and 3,000 in fish farming. Table 19 shows the employment in forestry and wood processing. Bilaga 2 SOU 2002:40 Employment in forestry and wood processing in 4.3.6Transfer of land ownership Historically, there has been activity with regards to the transfer of land for conservation purposes. This might change however due to the recent legislation supporting the of the first na- tional park in . In , ensuring proper management of protected areas on private land has been focused on providing subsidies, either through compensation or positive management. Annual payments made to the owners of woodland SSSIs up to amounted to just over £6 million. Of this, £5.4 million was paid in compensation and the rest for positive management. While compensation is still being paid as the result of existing agreements it is unlikely there will be many new cases. In addition, the proposed changes to the SSSI sys- tem (as set out in the Nature of policy statement) are likely to remove the right to compensation in all but a very limited range of circumstances. The proportion of positive payments appears relatively low but re- flects the fact that SNH only pays for positive management that is not covered by the Woodland run by the FC. Overall, the total government contribution on positive management of wood- land sites is much higher. is extremely proactive in conflict management, with very lit- tle litigation. have used mechanisms that encour- age stakeholders to get involved at an early stage of land management issues and policy development. These mechanisms include public meetings, tasks forces, advisory groups and social surveys. cover of the country. are found prima- rily in the mountainous areas and in the Landes, in western . Unlike much of northern European , have a high percentage of broadleaf species, mainly oak and beech, which are more prominent than conifer species. The composition of the broadleaf varies a great deal from region to region, but oak stands are common everywhere in , covering half of all broad- leaf areas. The conifers are predominantly found in the mountainous areas, with pine being the most prevalent. Privately owned account for of the in , and of the production . The remaining of the for- ests are broken into state- and community-owned public . The management of these lands fall under the responsibility of the des Forets (ONF). Two hundred years ago were in complete disarray, with much of the being converted to cropland or used to meet the growing need for fuelwood in both homes and the first factories. In 1827, the was established to protect the remaining for- ests. The objectives, even in this turbulent period, were geared toward protecting the environment, not to produce wood. The French recog- nised the need to re-establish cover on eroded slopes, which in turn would control the floods devastating much of the lowlands in those times. Until the end of 1965, the French public authority was the Water and , which was part of the Ministry of In 1966, the des Forets (ONF) was estab- as an autonomous and continued the work of the Water and . The main reason for the change was the need to strengthen the fi- nancial base of the organisation. The funding of the Water and For- est Administration was through the annual state budget, and all income generated was returned to the state. This is no longer the case. The organisational structure of state administration and how it is connected with the overall government is shown in Fig- ure 10. policy is the responsibility of the ture. ONF manages the state and community in , and is the management tool of the for public for- ests. Legislative and policy issues for nature conservation are coordi- nated under the . Each national park is au- tonomous. The interesting connection with ONF is that it is con- tracted to manage some of the national parks, but there is no legisla- tion forcing ONF to manage these areas. Private companies are organised under , which is subsi- dised by the government. ONFs employees are represented in Table 20. ONF's staff resources Contract (private citizens) 5.4Evaluation of the organisational effectiveness 5.4.1 Management of the The objectives of ONF are as follows: assure the renewal of assets minimise the negative impacts on the environment These objectives have been achieved largely as a result of aggressive planning. In 1965, when ONF was created, only half of public had management plans. However, since then ONF has taken an aggressive approach with a management schedule involving some 150,000 hectares per annum. State- and community-owned are managed by a set of rules called the . ONF creates an individual manage- ment plan, covering a 10-year period, for each separate area. ONF manages 4.5 million hectares of , including 3.6 million hectares of productive . management is more produc- tion oriented than, for example, in , but also covers multi- purpose functions, such as landscape management, protection, recre- ation (in mountainous areas and around cities), hunting and conser- vation. Of the productive , 1.4 million hectares are state and 2.2 million hectares are community . Of these lands, 2.2 million hectares are located in central and southern and 800,000 hectares in northeastern . ONF also manages 7.6 mil- lion hectares in French . des Forêts (ONF) – Bilaga 2 SOU 2002:40 State productive area managed by ONF (000 ha) Total area managed by ONF A = Scientific research B = Wilderness protection C = Preservation of species and genetic diversity D = Maintenance of environmental services E = Protection of specific natural and cultural features F = Tourism and recreation H = Sustainable use of resources from natural ecosystems I = Maintenance of cultural and traditional attributes has seven national parks, 132 nature reserves, 32 regional na- ture parks managed by regional and local authorities with state assist- ance, and 2,600 conservation areas. Each national park is autono- mous, but answers to (). DNPs primary tasks are to define, organise and monitor the protected areas. DNP falls under the authority of the vironment. Nature conservation areas are presented in Table 22 Nature conservation area in Area (hectares) Biological reserves (managed by the state) National hunting and wildlife (managed by the state) 5.4.2Administration costs and revenues ONF has always been a profitable enterprise that sends dividends back to the owner (state). After the 1999 hurricane, however, a dra- matic change occurred. ONF has experienced a significant reduction of wood sales and thus heavy financial losses. In addition, ONF is facing heavy expenses derived from the redevelopment of the de- stroyed . As a result, ONF will need financial compensation from the state for the coming ten years. The turnover for ONF in 1998 was 2035.7 million SEK. As a whole, only of ONFs income is related to wood sale, while the other comes from environmental services. Environmental serv- ices include among many things maintenance of paths and tracks in the national parks and recreational areas. Financing can be further broken down into three main categories: ONF depends on the state budget only for community man- agement. Communities pay only of the service provided by ONF, while the states share of the costs is , paid directly to ONF. Despite the fact that communities incur only minimal manage- ment costs, they are able to keep all the income coming from the wood sales. 5.4.3Partnerships with special interest groups ONF has partnerships with and environ- mental NGOs for a wide range of objectives. However, the most ob- vious example of partnerships in are community-owned for- ests. Altogether, there are 11,000 local communes in , accounting for of the communes in the whole country. The leg- islation governing French communal is based on usage rights dating back to Roman times and to the Middle Ages. The communes now play a vital role in local development in that they are involved in small business activities, tourism and employment. Partnerships between private companies and the community are becoming more popular to attract financing for community recreational facili- ties. In addition to commercial harvesting, ONF provides tourism, hunt- ing and fishing opportunities. However, recreational facilities and ed- ucational programmes are provided to the public when they are, in turn, funded by local authorities, sponsors, etc. ONF does not pay for the non-commercial benefits unless funded externally. In the past, ONF has entered into a partnership with local communities to fi- nance of these projects. However, ONF is doing less of this fi- nancing and is encouraging more private company financing. This offers great financing opportunities for local communities, and adver- tising exposure for private companies. In conflict management, political, administrative and alternative dis- pute resolution methods are commonly applied. Judicial methods are becoming less common as the mechanisms for public involvement increase in effectiveness. Apart from these general solutions, ONF has some experience on what they call Heritage Management Coun- cil. This involves all stakeholders participating in and fi- nancial planning. Table 23 shows the usage level of some of the most common pub- lic participation mechanisms. Public participation mechanisms used in ONF ranking (0-3) ranking (0-3) Individual/group submissions 5.4.6Transfer of land ownership The transfer of land for conservation purposes is almost non-existent because by law all landowners are responsible for protected areas.