Finns trust mostly in foresters and researchers as a source of forest and also forest biodiversity information. This is one of the results of the opinion poll ordered by the Finnish Forest Association.There are no major changes in the results of the recent Metsä ja puu (Forest and Timber) opinion poll compared to the previous ones. The poll is made every second year. Finnish citizens accept the activities of the Finnish forest sector very widely. Due to the same reason the support of the forest sector has not increased any more.
On the other hand, one cannot say that Finns’ knowledge of the forest sector had increased. For example, half of those answering supposed that the State owns the largest area of forests in Finland. However, in reality it owns only a quarter of the area while the largest area is owned by individual citizens and families.
People in Finland consider that the forest industry is the most important basement and maintainer of welfare, and the percentage of those sharing this opinion has not changed much. Instead the trust in electronic and IT industry has somewhat decreased. On the other hand, the trust in the ability of all these industries to survive in the international competition has decresed – mostly with the electronic and IT industry.
Foresters are trusted as source of information
Forest sector is still the most reliable source of information concerning forest management issues. 62 percent of those answering consider foresters as the most or second reliable, 55 percent forest researchers.
A new question in the opinion poll was, which is the most reliable source of information concerning forest biodiversity issues. 57 percent of those answering considered researchers most or second reliable, while foresters got a 50 percents’ and the environmental organisations 38 percents’ share.
Another new question was whether there are enough suitable forests for outdoor recreation, like picking berries and mushrooms in the neighbourhood. 57 percent accepted the answer “definitely enough” and in addition to this, 32 percent accepted the alternative “approximately enough”.
The very small share of no opinion -answers is typical in the poll also this time. In general it was only few percentages and always clearly below ten percent. One could conclude that every Finn has strong opinions concerning most aspects of forestry.
Forestry is considered good
78 percent of those answering considered the quality of the forestry forestry in their neighbourhood very or fairly high. Concerning its quality in the whole country the share was bigger, 90 percent, and what was most surprising, the initially very high share had even grown by some percents during the two years.
Three out of five answering considered forest protection in Finland sufficient. The share has somewhat decreased but was on the same level as four years ago. 15 percent thought that the percentage of protected forests in Finland is below four percents and 61 percent thought that the percentage is ten percents or more. In reality the share of protected forests is somewhere between four and ten percents depending on the definition.
62 percent of those answering thought that the share of protected forests in their neighbourhood is appropriate. Five percent thought that the share is too large and 26 percent that it is too small.
The opinion poll was made by Taloustutkimus in October-November 2005. Finnish Forest Association and Taloustutkimus have carried out these opinion polls regularly and with exactly same questions since 1993. The opinion poll was made as personal interviews of roughly one thousand people representing Finns between the ages of 15-79 years. The difference between the results and the real opinion shares is no more than 3,2 percentages in both directions.
Finns believe in a future for Finnish forestry
Recent research indicates that a great majority of Finns believe that Finnish well-being will depend on the country's forests also in the future. A Gallup poll made by the Finnish Forest Association proves that 89 per cent of Finns are either fully convinced or inclined to believe that forests will be the basis for Finnish well-being also in coming years.
More than half of those interviewed believed that only a minor part of waste paper is recycled in Finland. In fact, more than 70 per cent of such paper and of waste carton is recycled. The percentage is higher only in Germany.