The timber and furniture industries are being systematically dismantled by the Ministry of Climate and Environment. This time, the ministry expects that, starting in 2027, at least 787,000 hectares of forests will be excluded from timber harvesting. The decision was made without any consultations with entrepreneurs, writes Lucyna Piwowarska in today’s edition of Gazeta Polska Codziennie.
“Until recently, the timber and furniture industries were a showcase and a key pillar of the national economy, as well as one of Europe’s leading export sectors. Today, this achievement is being destroyed step by step by the Ministry of Climate and Environment. From a country that set standards, we are becoming a country that is losing its competitive advantages, investments, and markets,” accuses the Coalition for Polish Wood, an organization bringing together businesses and associations representing the furniture, sawmill, wood panel, and paper industries.
The government is pushing this branch of the economy to the margins and abandoning the use of one of the country’s most environmentally friendly resources—wood.
“Across the country, timber and furniture companies are reducing their operations, abandoning investments, and facing growing uncertainty regarding access to raw materials. Government policy is becoming the most serious catalyst of the crisis in Poland’s timber and furniture sectors in decades. The losers are entrepreneurs, employees, and entire regions that depend on the forest economy. A state cannot sustain itself on press conferences, social campaigns, and NGO appeals. A state is sustained by people’s work and by taxes paid by businesses. Meanwhile, the government is targeting an industry that has been creating jobs, building exports, and contributing billions of zlotys to the state budget for decades,” the Coalition for Polish Wood emphasizes.
The coalition reports that Paulina Hennig-Kloska, Minister of Climate and Environment, sent a letter to the Director General of the State Forests, Adam Wasiak, administratively specifying the area targets, indicators, and implementation deadlines that the organization is expected to meet. According to the coalition, the decision was made without any consultations or dialogue with the industry regarding its potential consequences.
Paulina Hennig-Kloska ordered that, from 2027, 1.43 million hectares managed by the State Forests be classified as forests with a primary environmental or social function, while at least 787,000 hectares be excluded from timber harvesting. In addition, 186,000 hectares of the oldest forest stands are to be placed under a special protection regime outside existing nature reserves. The State Forests are required to prepare and submit a comprehensive implementation plan for these objectives by August 28, 2026.
In response to these decisions, the Coalition for Polish Wood is raising a number of questions, including on the basis of which social, economic, and environmental analyses it was determined that as much as 20 percent of the area managed by the State Forests should be designated for environmental and social functions.
Read more in Lucyna Piwowarska’s article in today’s Polish-language edition of Gazeta Polska Codziennie.