ENVIRONMENT. The project was mentioned by the Minister of Agriculture and the Director General of the National Festival Office to a Cofor delegation.
“We must do more with much less. » This, summarizes Jean-Pierre Michel, president of the Forestry Communes of Haute-Marne (Cofor 52), is what was announced last week to a delegation from the National Federation of Cofor of which he is an administrator. An announcement which comes within the framework of the Finance Bill currently being debated in Parliament.
“We are aware that we have to make efforts, but this cannot happen”explains the mayor of Rochetaillée, who wanted to alert the general public about this project. The planned cuts in the budgets are not negligible. And the president of Cofor 52 cites notable examples: an increase from 509 to 228 million euros for ecological planning, from 2 to 1 million euros for aid to municipalities victims of the bark beetle, from 25 to 22 million for the Strategic Wood Fund, from 2.5 to 1 billion euros for the Green Fund…
“Human resources”
Faced with these announced cuts, Cofor will try to adapt. But what worries Jean-Pierre Michel and the national federation more is the announcement of the elimination, nationwide, of 95 full-time equivalent positions within the ONF. The Haut-Marne elected official sees this as a total contradiction with the ambitions displayed by the State. “The President of the Republic wanted a billion trees to be planted by 2035, he recalls. But who will plant them? » And then, Jean-Pierre Michel asks: “Who will take the wood out of French forests? Who will return 850,000 hectares to land tenure as the State requested? Our forests need human resources. »
In a press release, FNCofor calls “decision makers to reconsider these harmful measures and invest in the human resources essential to the proper functioning of the NFB”.
LF
