scholarly journals Waldpolitischer Jahresrückblick 2017

2018 ◽  
Vol 169 (3) ◽  
pp. 150-157
Author(s):  
Amadea Tschannen ◽  
Beatrix Schibli ◽  
Eva Lieberherr

Annual review of Swiss forest policy 2017 For Swiss forest policy, 2017 was a quiet year and marked by continuity. The Federal Administration mainly conducted implementation tasks, such as the interim evaluation of the Forest Policy 2020, which is planned to continue past 2020. Swiss wood and the timber industry were predominant topics at the administrative level as well as in the parliament. The Federal Court mainly addressed classic cases related to appraising what can be considered as forest and the allowed distance of buildings to forests, while the number of such cases has strongly decreased. In contrast to Swiss forest policy in the narrow sense, forest-relevant policies experienced more changes, as exemplified by the adoption of the Swiss Biodiversity Action Plan. However, here too we do not find any fundamental changes in direction from the previous year.

2017 ◽  
Vol 168 (4) ◽  
pp. 213-220
Author(s):  
Eva Lieberherr ◽  
Beatrix Schibli ◽  
Kathrin Steinmann

Annual review of Swiss forest policy 2016 Swiss forest policy in 2016 was characterized by the amendment of the Federal Acton Forest, which was decided upon in the spring. Specifically, the Federal Council and the Federal Administration prepared the necessary revision of the Forest Ordinance. After the expiration of the referendum deadline, the legal decrees entered into force on January 1, 2017. The Federal Court mainly addressed cases related to forest clearance and the allowed distance of buildings to forests. With the development of spatial, landscape, agricultural and energy policies questions of land-use remain central. This annual review takes into account forest policy developments until the end of March 2017.


2019 ◽  
Vol 170 (3) ◽  
pp. 153-160
Author(s):  
Amadea Tschannen ◽  
Beatrix Schibli ◽  
Eva Lieberherr

Annual review of Swiss forest policy 2018 Besides important personnel changes, Swiss forest policy in 2018 was marked by implementation tasks at the federal administrative level. In comparison to the previous year, the number of parliamentary initiatives slightly increased. These initiatives addressed not only the recurrent topics of Swiss wood and timber industry, but also forest protection. Beyond the classic forest cases, the Federal Court tackled a new topic this year: forest organization. The forest-relevant policies experienced important debates, without yet binding decisions. For instance, the revision of the Federal Law on Nature and Cultural Heritage and its weakening of the Federal Commission for the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage assessment remains controversial after the consultation period.


2014 ◽  
Vol 165 (5) ◽  
pp. 105-112
Author(s):  
Willi Zimmermann

Annual review of forest policy 2013 At the federal level, forest policy in 2013 was marked by a high number of implementation tasks on the one hand, and by the preparation of a renewed revision of the Forest Law on the other hand. The latter involved not only formal changes to individual legal articles, but also new regulations to protect against dangerous and harmful organisms, about the advancement of timber production and climate change adaptation. The traditional implementation tasks in 2013 included the approval of the budget, the controlling of different program agreements, the processing of parliamentary interventions as well as providing diverse documents. Particularly noteworthy this past year was a Federal Court decision, which, in contradiction to the cantonal lower court, classified test-drilling in a forest as a disadvantageous non-forest exploitation that requires authorization. At the international level, the adoption of a European Forest Convention was hindered primarily because the decision about the location of the secretariat stalled. In terms of forest-relevant policies, particularly spatial planning and energy policy can be expected to have noticeable effects on forests.


2015 ◽  
Vol 166 (4) ◽  
pp. 238-245
Author(s):  
Willi Zimmermann ◽  
Kathrin Steinmann ◽  
Eva Lieberherr

Annual review of Swiss forest policy 2014 Swiss forest policy in 2014 was marked by the passage of the Federal Council's message and draft of an amendment of the Forest Law, which was also treated by the Council of State's Commission for Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy and by the Council of State itself. This revision affects more than 20 articles of the current Forest Law. Despite these numerous alterations, the revision has not caused major debates. The forest-relevant parliamentary interventions decreased drastically in 2014, but since the beginning of 2015 a countertrend is notable. The forest budget remained practically the same as in previous years. The number of federal court decisions in relation to the forest sector has stayed small. Yet there are increasingly significant cantonal court decisions in this domain. In terms of broader forest policy, the public administration has mainly undertaken new standpoints regarding spatial planning and energy policies.


2012 ◽  
Vol 163 (5) ◽  
pp. 145-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willi Zimmermann

Annual review of Swiss forest policy 2011 The revision of the Forest Act, the adoption of the Forest Programme 2020 by the Federal Council as well as the preparation of the second contribution period of the New System of Financial Equalisation and Division of Tasks between the Confederation and the Cantons (NFE) shaped, in addition to the routine business, the forest policy of 2011. The parliamentary initiatives on forest and forest policy issues remained of about the same amount as in previous years, while the Federal Court decisions on forest legislation have declined significantly. In various forest-related sectoral policies, the government and parliament made important decisions. In climate policy, the Parliament adopted the CO2 Law. However, this has not yet happened to the revision of the Spatial Planning Act. In nature and landscape policy, the administration has prepared the Swiss biodiversity strategy so far that the Federal Council could send it out for consultation. The revision of the Hunting Regulation, with changes in the management of large carnivores, is nearing adoption. At the international level, the Federal Council has submitted the European Landscape Convention to the Parliament for ratification, and the European forestry ministers have agreed to the preparation of a European Forest Convention.


2016 ◽  
Vol 167 (3) ◽  
pp. 172-179
Author(s):  
Kathrin Steinmann ◽  
Willi Zimmermann

Annual review of Swiss forest policy 2015 Swiss forest policy in 2015 was characterized by the amendment of the Federal Act on Forest. The related discussions addressed such key topics as embedding the support of Swiss wood in the law, the education of forest workers to increase work safety, the federal financing of infrastructure in non-protective forests as well as defining renewable energy generating plants and facilities for energy transport and distribution as national interests. Regulations of the latter were laid down in the Federal Act on Forest and at the same time in the Federal Act on Energy. The federal and cantonal administrations also completed the program agreements for 2016–2019. The Federal Court addressed cases concerning the distance of buildings for forests and access to forests.


2013 ◽  
Vol 164 (5) ◽  
pp. 135-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willi Zimmermann

Annual review of Swiss forest policy 2012 Swiss national forest policy in 2012 was marked by the enactment of the revised Forest Law as well as preparations for the changes in the related Forest Ordinance. No new directions have emerged in the routine forest relevant tasks of the Parliament, Federal Council and the Public Administration. Exceptions to this trend were the numerous parliamentary interventions about the forest and timber industry. In addition, the number of Federal Court decisions about forest legal issues has slightly increased this year. In the policy fields related to forest policy, the passage of the Second Apartment Initiative and the revision of the Land-Use Law brought new angles into land-use policy. In terms of biodiversity policy, the Federal Council's approval of the Biodiversity Strategy Switzerland has set the stage for its implementation. Finally, the reorganization of Swiss energy policy has become the new dominant topic on the political agenda. The Federal Council has accomplished the related preparations for the new energy policy and has submitted its Energy Strategy 2050 for consultation.


2011 ◽  
Vol 162 (5) ◽  
pp. 137-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willi Zimmermann

In 2010, there were no major forest policy issues that attracted media attention. The year 2010 was rather marked by the preparation of decisions “offstage” and by recurring administrative implementation activities. The partial revision of the forest law, which has been launched, can be regarded as special, because it is not a routine affair: the Committee for the Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy of the Council of States decided to revise particularly article 7 (compensation for deforestation) and article 10 (assessing forest status) of the forest law, and thus loosen the strict regime for forest conservation. Concerning the sectoral policies related to forest, the parliament took the law on spatial planning (RPG) one step further towards its revision. With the proposed revision of the spatial planning law's article 5 (value-added charge) a forest policy relevant article is now up for discussion. Different forest relevant topics on the international political agenda were discussed during the two international conferences on biodiversity and climate convention just as during the treatment of the alpine and the landscape convention. Next year the discussions will presumably be about the future forest conservation policy.


2009 ◽  
Vol 160 (5) ◽  
pp. 105-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willi Zimmermann ◽  
Alexander Widmer

In 2008, the Swiss federal forest policy was mainly characterized by the failure to amend the Swiss federal law on forests, by the introduction of a new perequation system and by the launching of a new program with the aim to support a better use of Swiss timber. From a broader perspective, many political processes with impacts on forests can be observed in other policy fields. Important projects and processes have been put on the political agenda in the fields of spatial planning, climate policy, environmental policy, biodiversity and regional development policy. In most of these policy formulation and implementation processes, elements of a new form of political steering, called governance, can be observed.


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