Poland’s forests are in the spotlight! Over 500,000 signatures have been collected in an astounding few days in support of a bill to protect Poland’s sovereignty in forest management.
“I would like to thank very much everyone who was involved in the collection of signatures, especially foresters, local authorities and voluntary fire brigades,” said the spokesman of the State Forests, Michał Gzowski
The Social Legislative Initiative Committee “In Defence of Polish Forests” is advocating for this important cause, and the public has responded in a major way. With 500,000 signatures and counting, this bill is sure to make a huge impact on the state of Polish forests!
“A gigantic record – 500,000 signatures in just 7 days – despite the nasty attacks from Donald Tusk, Janina Ochojska and the Polish-language media, who strenuously attack the State Forests and foresters who have the ethos of fighting for the good of nature written into their DNA code. I would like to thank very much everyone who got involved in the collection of signatures, especially foresters, local government officials and the voluntary fire brigades that work so closely with foresters every day. I think this is an excellent time to ask the political leadership of the state to still get this bill through the Sejm in this legislature, or at least to start the first reading in order to secure the interests of the State Forests,”
State Forests spokesman Michał Gzowski said during Wednesday’s conference.
The formation of the social legislative initiative committee is a reaction to the proposal to transfer forestry from national competencies to shared European Union competencies. The European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety issued a positive opinion on the amendment of the treaties in this matter.
A committee set up on the initiative of Solidarna Polska and the State Forests collected half a million signatures within a few days from people in favour of a bill blocking the possibility of transferring competencies from EU Member States to the European level.
The bill envisages amendments to the Forest Act of 28 September 1991, including, among other things, the introduction of a chapter entitled "Competence in the management of forests owned by the State Treasury", the main articles of which state primarily that: "The Republic of Poland retains exclusive competence to formulate and implement policies relating to the protection and management of forests owned by the State Treasury; public authorities are obliged to formulate a forestry policy aimed at preserving the national heritage of forests owned by the State Treasury and that public authorities are obliged to refrain from taking action and to oppose actions aimed at conferring competence on the European Union with regard to the protection and management of forests owned by the State Treasury".
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