Współczesne problemy ekonomiki leśnictwa - Instytut Badawczy ...

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WSPÓŁCZESNE PROBLEMY EKONOMIKI LEŚNICTWA
szansy ich realizacji w ramach europejskiego systemu politycznego. Trwały rozwój stał
się oficjalną propozycją po Konferencji ONZ w Rio de Janeiro w 1992 r., więc powinniśmy
nadal podejmować nad nim dyskusję.
Sustainable Forestry in Financial Times
by Ernst Ulrich Koepf, Dresden University of Technology
Sustainability has been an established principle of forestry in Europe for the last two
hundred years. Its history will be lined out. Forestry at present must resist conditions of
the economic order in the world which are not in line with sustainability. It will be shown
that „limits to growth” are unavoidable in the global civilization. But it does not mean
nothing should grow.
Money permits to differentiate production and exchange goods and services at
the markets. Forest firms (as all firms) are bound to earn more money than their costs
of production. In 19 th century investment calculation was first developed by foresters
because forestry production necessarily depends on nature which, in financial terms,
means long-term investment. Discussions on “soil rent theory” and efforts to maximize
profits from forestry production turned out a complete failure. Why? We can learn from
forest history that the physical world (reality) can only be shaped within the limits of
nature, technology and men’s behaviour. Financial thinking may inform on physical conditions
of the economy, they cannot be changed but by intelligent technology. Money
interest shouldn’t govern economic thinking.
In fact, a concept is needed for a new sustainable economic order. Nature, labour,
and technology must be considered as production factors of equal weight. “Capital”
(which in traditional economics has been a production factor) is favouring monetary interest.
The politically declared aim of economics in democracy however is human interest.
And the condition of sustainable production is conservation of nature or ecological
interest. The late financial crash and its consequences have taught us the dangers of
the monetarian ideology.
What is meant by “financial times”? That business leaders as well as politicians
generally overvalue the monetary description of the economy, which in fact troubles
the view on reality, people’s and ecological interest. Banking must support highly specialized
production and market exchange of goods. So called financial industries offer
questionable “products”, which are not goods or services but just “money-making”.
Their profits and exorbitant wages are depriving revenues from working peoples and
technological efforts.
Solutions are to be found outside forestry and forest policies. Concepts are available,
and two of them will be sketched in spite of little chance of realization in the European
political system. However, sustainable development has been an official proposal
since UNCED 1992, and we should continue to discuss it.