Perspective from private forest owners

摘要

Honorary president of the Confederation of European Forest Owners (CEPF) Excellencies, dear ladies and gentlemen. My most heartful thanks to the organisers and in particular Jag Maini for inviting a representative of the family of forest owners from Ireland to Bulgaria, from Finland to Greece, to address this honourable assembly. Some 63% of the forest areas in the enlarged European Union [25 countries] are owned and managed by approximately 15 million family forest owners and private institutions. Family forest holdings have an average size of 13 ha.1However there is considerable variation among countries in the average size of holdings. One year ago family forest owners from Canada, Europe and the US addressed the need for networking the expertiseof family forest owners by establishing the International Family Forestry Alliance [IFFA].