What does “sustainable forest management” mean?
The forests of the future are already growing today. Forest management is generations management in the truest sense. It takes many years for the measures that are taken in the forest today to have an effect.
The forests that we have today were cultivated and tended by our ancestors. Ever since the magic words “environmentally sound management” were spoken at the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the whole world has set itself this goal. Forest management in Austria has been showing how it’s done for a long time. “Sustainable forest management” means thinking and acting in terms of many years, and taking care that the forest and all its positive functions will still be preserved for the future generations. The Austrian Forest Act specifies this as follows: “The forest must be treated in such a way that the production capacity of the soil and its effects (beneficial, protection, welfare and recreational function) is guaranteed sustainably.” The concept of semi-natural forest management pursues this objective.11.11.2005,