They were intended to strengthen the protection of trees in Poland. What was the basis of the social forests initiative?

Eleven thousand hectares of forests near Poznań are to become social forests. This sounds like a success, but – unfortunately – it is closer to a difficult, not to say rotten, compromise.

– Unfortunately, this process looked very, very bad and was such a disgrace. An attempt to create another facade – says Marta Jagusztyn from the Forests and Citizens initiative.

– We often had heated conversations, but I think it is extremely important that it took place at all – comments Anna Pikus from the Department of Social Forest Functions of the General Directorate of State Forests.

Community forests are intended to strengthen forest protection in Poland. This is an initiative of the Ministry of Climate and Environment.

– We work on community forests in several agglomerations in Poland. Poznań is the top student that has reached the fastest agreement between the State Forests and the social side – says Paulina Hennig-Kloska, Minister of Climate and Environment from Poland 2050-Third Way.

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However, the ministry handed over the supervision of the process itself to the State Forests, which is a strong objection from the public. – The keys to the hen house were given to the fox. This fox was told to manage the chickens and work out some compromise – comments Marek Józefiak from Greenpeace Polska.

This compromise is difficult to achieve in every agglomeration where community forests are to be established, because the key question here is: will the community forests be free from saws?

– We will radically change our way of farming. It will be different, delicate, it will imitate nature more, but we still have to ensure that this forest exists – notes Wiesław Krzewina from the Regional Directorate of State Forests in Poznań.

In the interpretation of the State Forests, this means logging. This can be seen, for example, in Poznań.

– Timber harvesting in virtually 99 percent of the area of ​​community forests that have been designated will be the same as before. This means that the trees will be cut down as before, only using slightly different methods, notes Robert Kalak from the Right to Nature Association.

For the current government, forests have been one of the most important topics from the beginning. The Prime Minister talked about it in his exposé. In the coalition agreement, the government promised to exclude 20 percent of valuable forest areas from logging. The problem is that at the moment there is a long way to fulfill the promise.

– This process is really stuck at about one percent. Clearing is still being carried out in the Bieszczady Mountains, cutting is still being carried out in the Beskids – says Marek Józefiak from Greenpeace Polska. Also in many other important and wild forests.

What community forests will ultimately look like, whether they will be cut down and how large, depends on the Ministry of Climate and Environment.