The Norwegian Forest

The Norwegian Forest

About 37 percent of the surface area in Norway is covered by forest. The total forested area amounts to 12 million hectares, including 7 million hectares of productive forest. 15 percent of the productive forest has been estimated as non-economic operational areas due to difficult terrain and long distance transport, which means that economical forestry may only be operated in 50 percent of the forested area. The most important species are Norway spruce (47%), Scots pine (33%) and birch (18%).

If measured in standing volume, there is twice as much forest today than a hundred years ago. Standing volume of forest is about 600 million cubic metres, compared with 300 million when the first national forest survey was carried out in 1919. The tremendous increase is a result of a forest policy with the main objective of restoring the forest resources.

Each year the standing forest volume increases by approx. 20 million cubic metres through its annual ingrowth. The total annual harvest is less than 50 percent of this growth, which again means that the forest volume increases every year.

The ownership structure
There are a total of 125,000 forest holdings in Norway with more than 2,5 hectares of forest land. The average size is about 50 hectares. About 120,000 of these holdings are family owned. Small forest properties, the steep and varying terrain conditions and the alternating production possibilities have created great variations within the forest landscape.

Approx. 80 percent of the forest is owned by families, mainly farmers that manage their forest in combination with farming. State and community forests amount to 12 percent of the productive forest area, while 4 percent is owned by private companies.


Family Forestry
The family forestry in Norway is being managed and operated through typical small-scale forestry operations. The variety of small-scale forestry creates good conditions for environmental biodiversity. The average sized felling area is 1.4 hectar.

The forest owners often combine their forest work with other farming activity. About 15 percent of the forest owners/family members are actively engaged in their forest through felling and/or transport operations, the rest is done by contractors. A larger percentage though carries out reforestation and silvicultural work on their own property.

With few exceptions, all farm and forest holdings are kept within the family. According to the Act of Allodial Rights, the firstborn child has the first option to the holding. Most farms are inherited through generations, establishing a feeling of responsibility and long-term considerations of keeping the value of the farm. This attitude is of great importance to the forestry management, where measures that are implemented to day only be seen after several decades in the future. On average, the rotation between planting and final harvest is between 70-100 years.

Norwegian Forest Management
Norwegian policies dealing with the conservation and sustainable utilization of forest resources are based on fundamental principles of maintaining the long-term stability and resilience of the resource base. The goal of Norwegian forest management policies is to meet social, economic, ecological and cultural needs for present and future generations. Norway has ratified the Rio convention on biological diversity and the climate and signed resolutions on sustainable management of Europe’s forests. The principles expressed in these documents are also incorporated into Norwegian forest policy.

The public forest administration in Norway is divided into three levels:

- Nationally the Ministry of Agriculture and Food has authority over forestry
- At county level the authority over forest matters is delegated to the county governor
- At municipal level each municipality serves as the authority on forest matters

The forestry authorities’ tasks include:

- Seeing that the Forest Act and other relevant acts are complied with
- Administering the public subsidy arrangements
- Guidance for the forest owners
- Participating in the planning process, particularly as regards land management
- Administering the forestry preservation duty arrangements
Forest legislation

Norway is currently preparing a new forestry act. It is expected that the environmental regulations will be updated based on new knowledge, especially within the field of biodiversity. Furthermore, it is a goal to improve the forest legislation with regard to application and enforcement, through simplification of the existing legislation. Results and guidelines from the international policy dialogue, in particular the United Nations forest process (IPF, IFF, UNFF) as well as the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE) constitute an important basis for the new act. A committee with members representing forest owners, forest industry, employer- and labour interests as well as environmental NGOs has provided guidance to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food through a transparent process.

The current forest legislation originally dates back to 1965, but has been amended and modernized several times since, most recently in 1997. Its main objectives are to promote forest production, afforestation and the protection of forest land while promoting the functions of forests as environment for plants and animals and as a source for recreation, hunting and fishing. The Forest Act applies to all categories of ownership, and is based on the fundamental principle of freedom with responsibility for the individual forest owner. The provisions include principles related to environmental and recreational considerations, forest road construction, forest management in areas of particular ecological value, protective functions, and the Forest Trust Fund.


Free public access
There is a year-round access for the general public to non-cultivated land in Norway. Free access is an ancient public right, and has since 1957 been stated by law. Motorised recreational activities are generally prohibited off road.

A lot of people use the forest for recreational activities, both traditional and modern. The public has a right to walk anywhere in the forests, berries and mushrooms may be picked, and dry wood may be collected for campfires during the period mid-September to mid-April.

There is a widely distributed web of marked walking-paths as well as prepared tracks for cross-country skiing to be used free of charge.

Hunting and fishing are important activities for a large number of people. Hunting and fishing rights are the property of the landowners. Fishing licenses are available, to some extent also hunting licenses.


Forest Trust Fund
Forest owners must divert 4-40 percent of the gross sale value of harvested timber and fire wood upon sale into the Forest Trust Fund. These funds shall be used in the forest in the form of long-term investments in silviculture and forest roads. Payments from the Fund may also be invested in measures to enhance features of special environmental value in the forest. The forest owner makes the decision on the percentage to be deducted depending on the need for investments.

The forest owner does not receive any interest made on his trust fund account. The interest is mainly used to cover administrative expenses and measures to the benefit of Norwegian forestry at municipal and county levels.


Protection of Forestlands
In principle, all Norwegian forestlands are protected from non-forestry development through provisions of the Building and Planning Act and the municipal land use plans. Specific provisions of the Forestry Act provide additional means for placing restrictions on the use of forestlands in deference to environmental concerns, recreational interests and conservation of resources. The Nature Conservation Act provides for the classification of specific areas under various degrees of protection. Forest owners also put forestlands into set-aside schemes by which they refrain from utilizing resources.


Lands protected under The Forestry Act:
• Areas of special environmental or recreational value – areas in which forest operation is subject to severe restrictions. Applied to approx. 170,000 ha.

• Protection forest – forestland that must be treated with special care due to their location or characteristics. Approx. 15-20% of Norway’s forestland are classified as protection forest.

Lands protected under The Nature Conservation Act include:
• National parks – extensive areas free of improvements of a technical nature. Forest operations and most types of commercial or industrial activity are banned.

• Landscape protection areas – areas with distinctive landscape features in which any measures or activities which may alter the character of the landscape are banned. Forest operations are normally subject to restrictions.

• Nature reserves – distinctive areas totally protected against commercial or industrial activity and interference of any kind.

• Nature monuments – sites or small areas protected for their special natural historic value.

• Other protection areas – protected species and conservation of biotopes.

Forest certification
A national set of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management was developed in 1998 (The Living Forests Project). The forest owners and the forest industries took the project initiative back in 1994, and a broad range of stakeholders representing economic, environmental, social and cultural interests contributed to the result.

The ISO 14001 certification system in combination with the national forest performance level standards (The Living Forests Standards) is applied to practically all commercial forestry in Norway. The system is accepted under the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) and endorsed by PEFC Council.

As long as the ISO 14001 system is accepted by the forest industries, there has been low interest among forest owners for developing or adapting to other certification systems.

A lot of efforts have been made to improve the competence of forest owners on sustainable forest management and forest certification. Focus has been on the forest performance level standards and how to implement and apply them. By spring 2004 approximately 20 000 forest owners have been educated in these topics.


The Forest Sector in Norway
Forestry and the forest industry are important trades in Norway. In 2001, the gross production value for the forestry sector, including primary forestry and the forest industry, was valued at NOK 41,000 million (EUR 5,125 million). The export value was about NOK 17,000 million (EUR 2,125 million). Approx. 40,000 people receive their income from primary forestry and the forest industry.

The forest activities provide about 7 million cubic meters of wood annually for the forest industry. An increasing part of the felling and transport of timber is taken care of by contractors. However, 15 percent of the forest owners are still working in their own forest with felling and/or transport during the winter season. The total work contribution in primary forestry is estimated to 5,000 man-years.