Poland: State Forests face potential 1 billion PLN annual loss

Paweł Sałek, a member of the PiS party and former Deputy Minister of the Environment, has warned that recent policies from the Ministry of Climate and Environment could cost the State Forests approximately one billion PLN annually.

The potential financial loss stems from the ministry’s plans to exclude more areas from forest management by establishing new nature reserves, social forests, and old-growth forest protections. Sałek argues that these administrative decisions threaten the revenue of the State Forests, which serves as a vital tool for managing national assets, providing timber for industry, and supporting thousands of jobs.

The Ministry of Climate and Environment has announced plans to strengthen the protection of 20 percent of Poland’s most valuable forest areas. While the ministry frames this as environmental protection, critics suggest it could disrupt the organized system of timber harvesting, forest renewal, and infrastructure maintenance, potentially impacting the domestic furniture and wood industries.