Question 14507 — woods and forests

Summary

Mr. Dominique Potier alerts the Minister of Agriculture and Food to the strategic orientations currently followed by the National Forestry Office (ONF), which raise concerns about the future of the Office and could weaken its role in the fight against climate change. From mainland France to overseas, the ONF manages nearly 11 million hectares of public forests belonging to the State and local authorities. The French forest is the third largest European forest in terms of surface area (apart from the Guyanese forest). It is the main European forest in terms of biodiversity both in terms of the plant species that make it up and the wildlife that inhabits it. It is one of the major lungs of Europe and the main natural instrument in the fight against global warming. It represents 25% of the surface national forest. Finally, it is the main source of wood production in France. The ONF's missions are located at the crossroads of economic, ecological and social issues, which makes it a key player in the service of sustainable development and the energy transition. Every day, foresters ensure the maintenance, development and renewal of forests and natural spaces. With his experience of Manager of public forests, the ONF offers services to communities, businesses and individuals wishing to enhance their natural spaces. At the request of the State, the ONF also carries out several missions of general interest in the field of natural risks: protection of the coastline, restoration of mountain terrain or even defense of forests against fires. However, in a financial context difficult and faced with hundreds of job cuts in the years to come, the ONF seems to be turning towards a policy of increased logging, to the detriment of sustainable forest management. The directions pursued thus lead to the abandonment of sovereign missions of territorial surveillance by armed agents of the ONF, to an end to its environmental missions which guarantee a good state of the forest and forestry environments or even an irreversible loss of skills due to the reduction in competitive recruitment (particularly of forestry engineers). This situation clearly jeopardizes the ability of the French State not only to generate a sustainable profit from the exploitation of its forests, but also to fight against climate change. He therefore asks for more transparency on the maintenance of service missions public of the National Forestry Office and calls on it to maintain among its primary concerns the environmental services provided by forests and their biodiversity, particularly in the face of global warming.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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