European Support Systems To Private Forest Ownership And Their Application In Galicia

The Galician forestry sector has strongly expanded during the last few decades over lands formerly devoted to agrarian and livestock activities, increment in land which has not been accompanied by a similar socioeconomic repercussion. The reasons are the structural deficiencies of the forestry sector, which have not been corrected by the forest policy developed up to now in the region. The present survey analyses the current conditions, needs of, and criteria for private forest management in Galicia, given the important representation of this type of land regime tenure in the region. In order to achieve this, dealing with the concept of sustainable forest management, different potential methodologies for forest planning and monitoring implemented in other European regions are reviewed, taking their potentiality into account as alternatives to advance and development of the Galician forestry sector. Therefore, given the current forestry problems, four key issues have been selected for their possible adaptation to Galicia: accountancy data network, co-operation models, education and advice programmes and public measures of economic support. These guidelines are analysed at three levels: description of the current experiences on the subject in Galicia, the basis for the possible application and adaptation of European models, later analysis of the main programmes and measures carried out in different European regions and finally, a proposal of criteria for their adaptation to the community.