Bürgerwald concept

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Citizen forest concepts were created to ensure that a forest is managed in such a way that it serves the well-being of the citizens and services of general interest . In the current discussion on forest policy, the citizen forest concepts also emphasize the common ownership of forests by citizens as a further characteristic of a citizen forest. In this sense, the Bürgerwald can also be understood as an application example of public service organization.

history

The term is historically and politically relevant. The so-called Auerbacher Bürgerwald , which comprises around 430 hectares of the so-called Velden Forest and which goes back to a gift from Count Palatine Johann von Neumarkt in 1431 and has been known to have had this name since the 16th century, can conceptually be considered the oldest civil forest in Germany . The historical background of this citizenship donation was the destruction and pillage of the town of Auerbach in 1430 by the so-called Hussites , which prompted the Count Palatine to alleviate the great need of the citizens by donating the forest for the future. This civic forest dedication was later designated and confirmed conceptually for the first time as a civic forest by the document of the “Copia freybriff over the civic forest anno 1552”, which Elector Friedrich II of the Palatinate (“the wise”) issued. "Burger wood ... how sye had such a memory yber people, ... we want to let sye ... stay with us, ... so that sye should be able to continue to supply himself and common people instead of prenn- and pauholz".

The term Bürgerwald was used as a politically topical term from around 2008 in the discussion about the privatization of state forests in Bavaria by the former President of the Bavarian State Parliament, Rudolf Hanauer . In the context of the Bavarian Forest Alliance , it is emphasized that the state forest is a forest of general interest that is intended to serve the well-being of all citizens of the state. The term Bürgerwald to clarify, in this context, that this forest does not belong to an abstract state, but to all citizens in the ideological sense.

Forms of design

Two variants of the Bürgerwald concept can be distinguished along the lines of ownership :

Indirect civil forests

The indirect Bürgerwald is characterized by public ownership; the communal and state forests concerned are managed and cared for by communal and state forest companies and remain in public hands; As a rule, they are administered with the resources of public service and budget law (= fiscal property ). These (indirect) civil forests, as still public forests, cannot be designed directly by the citizens, but only through elections (municipal or state elections) or through referendums .

Immediate civil forests

If there is actual, joint ownership of forests, i.e. a participation of citizens in the responsible owner power that specifically decides on the management of the forests (= private co-ownership), one can speak of an immediate community forest. Because of the large number of potential owners, these civil forests can in fact only be set up as general partnerships (e.g. as a registered cooperative (eG), legal association (eV), stock corporation (AG in free float ), GmbH, etc.). As immediate citizen forests, they can be described as an application of the public economy , provided that their objectives are sufficiently specifically secured by the statutes and thus guarantee the public value goals in the long term (see the NRW citizen forest concept below).

Plans to implement the concept for an immediate community forest

On behalf of NABU NRW , the forest scientist Wilhelm Bode prepared an expert opinion that provides for the conversion of the state forest in North Rhine-Westphalia into a real (immediate) civil forest in the legal form of an NRW-Bürgerwald AG. The public service concept provides that the commercial forest area of ​​the state enterprise of North Rhine-Westphalia is initially separated from the nature conservation priority areas. The latter are to be handed over to a NRW Nature Trust ( NRW Foundation ) for permanent protection. The remaining approx. 80% of the state forest to be managed is to be brought into a NRW-Bürgerwald AG, which according to the unchangeable company statutes is determined to be managed in so-called permanent mixed forest operation , i.e. H. Clearing-free, chemical-free, natural regeneration requirement , active forest conservation (e.g. 5–8% deadwood strategy ), gentle operating techniques, etc. 20% of the share capital should be held by the NRW Foundation in order to prevent any potential change in the statutes. At the same time, the AG is obliged to increase the production area in North Rhine-Westphalia and to distribute 90% of its profits to the community forest owners (= free float owners). The model for the highly profitable economy are the natural permanent forests in the hands of predominantly aristocratic large forest owners. The NABU concept is primarily intended to serve as an alternative to the threat of full privatization of the state forests in the hands of large capital owners. The Association of German Foresters has expressed itself critical of this concept .

The first civil forests on a cooperative basis (EG) have been discussed since 2010 in connection with unsuccessful state forest sales or municipal privatization intentions. In this sense, the citizens' initiative Wiebachtal eV ( Radevormwald ), which is establishing a forest cooperative Wiebachtal (eG), is making concrete efforts .

Since 2010, the Saarland has been considering initiating a reform towards a citizen-oriented management of the state forest, which remains in public ownership.

To delimit forest cooperatives under old law

Civil forests are to be strictly separated from the forest cooperatives of old law. These are corporations, cooperatives or communities under old law (= before the entry into force of the BGB ), which cannot be incorporated into civil or corporate forms of our time.

Web links

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Auerbacher Bürgerwald , with further documented references
  2. ↑ See Ralf Straußberger No privatization of the Bürgerwald AFZ / Der Wald 58 (2003): 37 as well as Forest Alliance Bavaria: Bürgerwaldbericht 2008 (PDF; 722 kB), p. 6
  3. ↑ See also Norbert Weber, Forstpolitische Considerungen zum Waldeigentum in Bernhard Mahring, Otto Depenheuer (Ed.): Waldeigentum: Dimensions and Perspektiven Berlin 2010, p. 295ff. and Roland Burger / Jerg Hilt communal corporation forest there p. 349ff
  4. ↑ Wilhelm Bode The NRW Citizens' Forest Concept (PDF; 16.6 MB)
  5. ↑ See instead of many: Remscheider Stadtpost from 25 Jan. 2011, p. D3
  6. ^ Federation of German Foresters Landesverband NRW (BDF) position paper of May 27, 2010; and BDF press release 2/2010
  7. ^ Bergische Morgenpost dated Nov. 18, 2009
  8. ^ State forest in Saarland: Natural civil forest
  9. ↑ Kurt Mantel Introduction to Forest Law . Melsungen 1968